Blockchain

ABSTRACT

An Internet of Thing (IoT) device includes a camera coupled to a processor; and a wireless transceiver coupled to the processor. Blockchain smart contracts can be used with the device to facilitate secure operation.

The present application claims priority to application Ser. No.15/594,214 and Ser. No. 15/594,311 and Ser. No. 15/973,524, the contentof which is incorporated by reference.

BACKGROUND

The emergence of smart devices such as Internet of Things (IOT) deviceshas provided intelligence to many common appliances and gears forsports.

IOT devices have appeared with features of autonomous operation. Forexample, smart sport gears monitor the users' behavior and improve oraid user performance. Smart cars can drive autonomously. Many otherconvenient and timesaving features are appearing in IOT devices.

In a parallel trend, the wealth of data generated by IOT devices canoverwhelm the Internet cloud. Moreover, fraudulent and harmfulactivities arising from hacked IOT devices have potential to cause majordisruptions to the Internet.

SUMMARY

In one aspect, an Internet of Thing (IoT) device includes a processor,sensor(s), and a wireless transceiver coupled to the processor.

These and other features of the present invention will become readilyapparent upon further review of the following specification anddrawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1A illustrates an exemplary environment for communicating data froma monitoring device to external computers,

FIG. 1B is a schematic view of an exemplary IoT sport device system, andFIG. 1C is an exemplary process supported by the IoT device.

FIG. 2A is a block diagram of an electronic circuit for a smart device,while FIG. 2B is a block diagram of a big data system for predictingstress experienced by a structural unit such as a bridge, a building, ora plane, for example.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating one operation of the system of FIG.2A-2B in detecting stress on a unit.

FIG. 4 shows an exemplary sports diagnosis and trainer system foraugmented and/or virtual reality, FIG. 5 shows an exemplary process foraugmented and/or virtual reality for viewers participating in a game,and FIG. 6 shows an exemplary process to identify reasons for sensordata changes using a gaming process.

FIG. 7 shows an exemplary smart band,

FIG. 8 shows an exemplary glove,

FIG. 9 shows exemplary smart clothing, and

FIG. 10 shows exemplary smart balls.

FIG. 11A shows exemplary smart rackets while FIG. 11B shows electronicsin the handle for golf clubs, rackets, or kung fu sticks.

FIGS. 12A-12B show exemplary protective gears, while FIG. 12C shows anexemplary process to fabricate mass-customized protective gear;

FIGS. 13A-13I show exemplary blockchain smart contract processes.

FIGS. 13J-13N show exemplary chain of custody (CCC) and supply chaintracking system of drugs such as cannabis.

FIGS. 14A-14H show exemplary IF systems with blockchain and flowchartsdetailing their operations.

FIGS. 14I-14J show exemplary blockchain energy delivery systems.

FIG. 15A shows an exemplary virtual reality camera mounted on a gear,and FIG. 1H shows exemplary augmented reality real-time coaching of aplayer such as a quarterback during fourth down.

FIGS. 16A-16C shows exemplary coaching system for skiing, bicycling, andweightlifting/free style exercise, respectively, while FIG. 16D shows akinematic modeling for detecting exercise motion which in turn allowsprecision coaching suggestions.

Similar reference characters denote corresponding features consistentlythroughout the attached drawings.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIG. 1A illustrates an exemplary environment for communicating data froma monitoring device to external computers. In FIG. 1A, the monitoringdevice used for a sport device 9 includes an interface with a radiotransmitter for forwarding the result of the comparison to a remotedevice. In one example, the monitoring device may include an additionalswitch and user interface. The user interface may be used by the user inorder to trigger transmission of the comparison of the hand or footpattern reference data with the stroke patterns data to the remotedevice. Alternatively, the transmission may occur automatically eachtime the device has been used, or may be triggered by placing the sportdevice in a cradle or base. All parts of the monitoring device may beencapsulated with each other and/or may be integrated into or attachedto the body of the sport device 9. Alternatively, a radio transmittermay be arranged separately from the other parts, for instance, in abattery charger, cradle or base of the sport device 9. In that example,the interface 7 may include contact terminals in the sport device 9,which are connected to the corresponding terminals in the batterycharger for forwarding the result of the comparison via a wiredconnection to the transmitter in the battery charger or may be connectedby induction or short range wireless communications. The radiotransmitter in the battery charger then transmits this comparison resultfurther via the wireless radio connection to the remote device. In FIG.1A, the remote device may be a mobile phone 16, PDA or computer 19,which receives the information directly from the monitoring device via ashort range radio connection, as one example of a transmitter, such as aBluetooth or a Wifi or a Zigbee connection. In one example, the user ofthe remote device may receive information about how thoroughly the sportdevice 9 has been used or the need to provide a replacement sportdevice. FIG. 1A also illustrates an alternate example of a transmitter,using an intermediate receiver 17 and a network 18, such as a cellularradio system. Also in this example, the radio transmitter may be locatedin connection with the sport device 9 or alternatively in connection,with a charger, cradle or base station of the sport device 9. In such anexample, the comparison result may be transmitted via an intermediatereceiver 17 and the network 18 to a remote device 19, 16 located furtheraway than the range of a short range radio system, for example. Theremove device 19, 16 may be any device suitable for receiving thesignals from the network 18 and providing feedback on an output device.The transmission of information via a cellular radio system to theremote device may allow an advertiser provide an advertisement. Forexample, an advertisement may be added to the comparison result usingnetwork elements in the cellular radio system. The user may receive anadvertisement with the comparison result. An advantage with such asolution is that the advertiser may provide revenue offsetting all or aportion of the cost for the transmission of the comparison result fromthe sport device 9 to the remote device 19, 16.

FIG. 1B shows a block diagram of the unit 9 with processor/RAM/ROM II.The unit 9 includes a motion sensor, a multi-axis accelerometer, and astrain gage 42. The multi-axis accelerometer may be a two-axis orthree-axis accelerometer. Strain gage 21 is mounted in the neck of theracket, and measures force applied to the ball, i.e., force in a zdirection. Acceleration and force data are acquired by themicroprocessor at a data acquisition rate (sampling rate) of from about10 to 50 samples/second, e.g., about 2D samples/second. The accelerationdata is used to infer motion, using an algorithm discussed below; it isnot converted to position data. In this embodiment, because the sensorsand strain gage are not in the head region, the head can be removableand replaceable, e.g., by threaded engagement with the handle (notshown), so that the sport device can continue to be used afterinstrument wear has occurred. Any desired type of removable head orcartridge can be used.

The unit 11 also includes a camera, which can be a 360 degree camera.Alternatively, the camera can be a 3D camera such as the Kinect cameraor the Intel RealSense camera for ease of generating 3D models and fordetecting distance of objects. To reduce image processing load, eachcamera has a high performance GPU to perform local processing, and theprocessed images, sound, and odor data are uploaded to a cloud storagefor subsequent analysis.

The unit 11 includes an electronic nose to detect odor. The electronicnose can simply be a MEMS device acting as a particle counter. Anembodiment of the electronic nose can be used that includes a fanmodule, a gas molecule sensor module, a control unit and an output unit.The fan module is used to pump air actively to the gas molecule sensormodule. The gas molecule sensor module detects the air pumped into bythe fan module. The gas molecule sensor module at least includes a gasmolecule sensor which is covered with a compound. The compound is usedto combine preset gas molecules. The control unit controls the fanmodule to suck air into the electronic nose device. Then the fan moduletransmits an air current to the gas molecule sensor module to generate adetected data. The output unit calculates the detected data to generatea calculation result and outputs an indicating signal to an operator orcompatible host computer according to the calculation result.

FIG. 1C schematically shows a method or app 2 which may be implementedby the computing unit 11 shown in FIG. 1B. For example, the app 2 may bea computer implemented method. A computer program may be provided forexecuting the app 2. The app 2 includes code for:

(21) capture user motion with accelerometer or gyroscope

(22) capture VR views through camera and process using GPU

(23) capture user emotion using facial recognition or GSR

(24) model user action using kinematic model

(25) compare user action with idea action

(26) coach user on improvement to user sport techniques.

The device can negotiate and enforce agreements with others blockchainsmart contracts. The system may include one or more of the following:

code to determine trade settlement amounts and transfers fundsautomatically,

code to automatically pay coupon payments and returns principal uponbond expiration,

code to determine payout based on claim type and policy coverage,

code to collect insurance based on usage and upon a claim submission,code to determine payout based on claim type and policy coverage,

code to transfer electronic medical record from a source to adestination based on patient consent,

code to anonymously store wearable health data from wearable devices forpublic health monitoring,

a secured content and code to determine and distributes royalty to anauthor,

code for storing a stock certificate number with stock quantity,

code to determine a share registry or a capitalization table from eachstock certificate number and stock quantity,

code to distribute shareholder communication from a share registry or acapitalization table,

code to collect secure shareholder votes from a share registry or acapitalization table for transparent corporate governance,

code to provide financial information to shareholder a share registry ora capitalization table for corporate governance,

code to enforce majority or supermajority shareholder votes from a shareregistry or a capitalization table for corporate governance,

code for supply chain management,

code for tracking chain of custody for an item, or

code for peer-to-peer transactions for between two computers.

As shown in FIG. 2A, a microcontroller 155 receives and processessignals from the sensor 112-114, and converts those signals into anappropriate digital electronic format. The microcontroller 155wirelessly transmits tension information in the appropriate digitalelectronic format, which may be encoded or encrypted for securecommunications, corresponding to the sensed traffic and/or crimeindication through a wireless communication module or transceiver 160and antenna 170. Optionally, a camera 140 can be provided to visuallydetect traffic and/or crime and movement of the structure. Whilemonitoring of the smart device 100 traffic and/or crime is continuous,transmission of tension information can be continuous, periodic orevent-driven, such as when the tension enters into a warning oremergency level. Typically the indicated tension enters a warning level,then an emergency level as tension drops below the optimal range, butcorresponding warning and emergency levels above the optimal range canalso be used if supported by the smart device 100. The microcontroller155 is programmed with the appropriate warning and emergency levels, aswell as internal damage diagnostics and self-recovery features.

The sensor 112-114, transceiver 160/antenna 170, and microcontroller 155are powered by and suitable power source, which may optionally includean electromagnetic field (EMF) scavenging device 145, such as thoseknown in the art, that convert ambient EMF (such as that emitted byradio station broadcasts) into small amounts of electrical power. TheEMF scavenging device 145 includes a battery to buffer and store energyfor the microcontroller 155, sensor 112-114, camera 140 and wirelesscommunications 160/170, among others.

The circuit of FIG. 2A contains an analog front-end (“AFE”) transducer150 for interfacing signals from the sensor 112-114 to themicrocontroller 155. The AFE 150 electrically conditions the signalscoming from the sensor 112-114 prior to their conversion by themicrocontroller 155 so that the signals are electrically compatible withthe specified input ranges of the microcontroller 155. Themicrocontroller 155 can have a CPU, memory and peripheral circuitry. Themicrocontroller 155 is electrically coupled to a wireless communicationmodule 160 using either a standard or proprietary communicationstandard. Alternatively, the microcontroller 155 can include internallyany or all circuitry of the smart device 100, including the wirelesscommunication module 160. The microcontroller 155 preferably includespower savings or power management circuitry 145 and modes to reducepower consumption significantly when the microcontroller 155 is notactive or is less active. The microcontroller 155 may contain at leastone Analog-to-Digital Converter (ADC) channel for interfacing to the AFE150.

The battery/power management module 145 preferably includes theelectromagnetic field (EMF) scavenging device, but can alternatively runoff of previously stored electrical power from the battery alone. Thebattery/power management module 145 powers all the circuitry in thesmart device 100, including the camera 140, AFE 150, microcontroller155, wireless communication module IR and antenna 170. Even though thesmart device 100 is preferably powered by continuously harvesting RFenergy, it is beneficial to minimize power consumption. To minimizepower consumption, the various tasks performed by the circuit should berepeated no more often than necessary under the circumstances.

Stress information from the smart device 100 and other information fromthe microcontroller 155 is preferably transmitted wirelessly through awireless communication module 160 and antenna 170. As stated above, thewireless communication component can use standard or proprietarycommunication protocols. Smart lids 100 can also communicate with eachother to relay information about the current status of the structure ormachine and the smart device 100 themselves. In each smart device 100,the transmission of this information may be scheduled to be transmittedperiodically. The smart lid 100 has a data storage medium (memory) tostore data and internal status information, such as power levels, whilethe communication component is in an OFF state between transmissionperiods.

The electronic of FIG. 2A operates with a big data discovery system ofFIG. 2B that determines events that may lead to failure. FIG. 2B is ablock diagram of an example stress monitoring system 200 that may beprocess the stress detected by the smart device 100 of FIG. 1 , arrangedin accordance with at least some embodiments described herein. Alongwith the stress monitoring system 220, a first smart device such as asmart device 240, a second smart device 250, a third smart device HO, afourth smart device HO, and additional sensors 270 may also beassociated with the unit 200. The stress monitoring system 220 mayinclude, but is not limited to, a transceiver module 222, a stressdetection module 224, a stress prediction module 226, a determinationmodule 22B, a stress response module 232, an interface module 234, aprocessor 236, and a memory 23B.

The transceiver module 222 may be configured to receive a stress reportfrom each of the first, second, and third sport smart devices 240, 250,260. In some embodiments, the transceiver module 222 may be configuredto receive the stress reports over a wireless network. For example, thetransceiver module 222 and the first, second, and third smart devices240, 250, 260 may be connected over a wireless network using the IEEE802.11 or IEEE 802.15 standards, for example, among potentially otherstandards. Alternately or additionally, the transceiver module 222 andthe first, second, and third smart devices 240, 250, 260 may communicateby sending communications over conductors used to carry electricity tothe first, second, and third smart devices 240, 250, 260 and to otherelectrical devices in the unit 200. The transceiver module 222 may sendthe stress reports from the first, second, and third smart devices 240,250, 260 to the prediction module 226, the stress detection module 224,and/or the determination module 228.

The stress module 224 may be configured to detect stress on the sportobject as detected by the devices 100. The signal sent by the devices100 collectively may indicate the amount of stress being generatedand/or a prediction of the amount of stress that will be generated. Thestress detection module 224 may further be configured to detect a changein stress of non-smart devices associated with the unit 200.

The prediction module 226 may be configured to predict future stressbased on past stress history as detected, environmental conditions,forecasted stress loads, among other factors. In some embodiments, theprediction module 226 may predict future stress by building models ofusage and weight being transported. For example, the prediction module226 may build models using machine learning based on support vectormachines, artificial neural networks, or using other types of machinelearning. For example, stress may correlate with the load carried by abridge or an airplane structure. In other example, stress may correlatewith temperature cycling when a structure is exposed to constant changes(such as that of an airplane).

The prediction module 226 may gather data for building the model topredict stress from multiple sources. Some of these sources may include,the first, second, and third smart devices 240, 250, 260; the stressdetection module 224; networks, such as the World Wide Web; theinterface module 234; among other sources. For example, the first,second, and third smart devices 240, 250, 260 may send informationregarding human interactions with the first, second, and third smartdevices 240, 250, 260. The human interactions with the first, second,and third smart devices 240, 250, 260 may indicate a pattern of usagefor the first, second, and third smart devices 240, 250, 260 and/orother human behavior with respect to stress in the unit 200.

In some embodiments, the first, second, and third smart devices 240,250, 260 may perform predictions for their own stress based on historyand send their predicted stress in reports to the transceiver module222. The prediction module 226 may use the stress reports along with thedata of human interactions to predict stress for the system 200.Alternately or additionally, the prediction module 226 may makepredictions of stress for the first, second, and third smart devices240, 250, 260 based on data of human interactions and passed to thetransceiver module 222 from the first, second, and third smart devices240, 250, 260. A discussion of predicting stress for the first, second,and third smart devices 240, 250, 260 is provided below with respect toFIGS. 5 and 6 .

The prediction module 224 may predict the stress for different amountsof time. For example, the prediction module 224 may predict stress ofthe system 200 for 1 hour, 2 hours, 12 hours, 1 day, or some otherperiod. The prediction module 224 may also update a prediction at a setinterval or when new data is available that changes the prediction. Theprediction module 224 may send the predicted stress of the system 200 tothe determination module 22B. In some embodiments, the predicted stressof the system 200 may contain the entire stress of the system 200 andmay incorporate or be based on stress reports from the first, second,and third smart devices 240, 250, 260. In other embodiments, thepredicted stress of the system 200 may not incorporate or be based onthe stress reports from the first, second, and third smart devices 240,250, 260.

The determination module 228 may be configured to generate a unit stressreport for the system 200. The determination module 228 may use thecurrent stress of the system 200, the predicted stress of the system 200received from the prediction module 224; stress reports from the first,second, and/or third smart devices 240, 250, 260, whether incorporatedin the predicted stress of the system 200 or separate from the predictedstress of the system 200; and an amount of stress generated or thepredicted amount of stress, to generate a unit stress report.

In some embodiments, one or more of the stress reports from the first,second, and/or third smart device 240, 250, 260 may contain anindication of the current operational profile and not stress. In theseand other embodiments, the determination module 228 may be configured todetermine the stress of a smart device for which the stress reportindicates the current operational profile but not the stress. Thedetermination module 228 may include the determined amount of stress forthe smart device in the unit stress report. For example, both the firstand second smart device 240, 250 may send stress report. The stressreport from the first smart device 240 may indicate stress of the firstsmart device 240. The stress report from the second smart device 250 mayindicate the current operational profile but not the stress of thesecond smart device 250. Based on the current operational profile of thesecond smart device 250, the determination module 228 may calculate thestress of the second smart device 250. The determination module 228 maythen generate a unit stress report that contains the stress of both thefirst and second smart devices 240, 250.

In some embodiments, the stress monitoring system 220 may not includethe prediction module 226. In these and other embodiments, thedetermination module 228 may use stress reports from the first, second,and/or third smart devices 240, 250, 260, with the received amount ofstress inferred on non-smart devices, if any, to generate the unitstress report. The determination module 228 may send the unit stressreport to the transceiver module 222.

In some embodiments, the processor 236 may be configured to executecomputer instructions that cause the stress monitoring system 220 toperform the functions and operations described herein. The computerinstructions may be loaded into the memory 23B for execution by theprocessor 236 and/or data generated, received, or operated on duringperformance of the functions and operations described herein may be atleast temporarily stored in the memory 23B.

Although the stress monitoring system 220 illustrates various discretecomponents, such as the prediction module 226 and the determinationmodule 22B, various components may be divided into additionalcomponents, combined into fewer components, or eliminated, depending onthe desired implementation. In some embodiments, the unit 200 may beassociated with more or less smart devices than the three smart devices240, 250, 260 illustrated in FIG. 2 .

FIG. 3 is a flow chart of an example method 300 of monitoring stress ofa sport or game unit, arranged in accordance with at least someembodiments described herein. The method 300 may be implemented, in someembodiments, by an stress monitoring system, such as the stressmonitoring system 220 of FIG. 2 . For instance, the processor 236 ofFIG. 2B may be configured to execute computer instructions to performoperations for monitoring stress as represented by one or more of blocks302, 304, 306, 310, 312, and/or 314 of the method 300. Althoughillustrated as discrete blocks, various blocks may be divided intoadditional blocks, combined into fewer blocks, or eliminated, dependingon the desired implementation.

The method 300 may begin at one or more of blocks 302, 304, and/or 306.The blocks 302, 304, and/or 306 may occur at the same time or atdifferent times and may or may not depend on one another. Furthermore,one or more of the block 302, 304, 306 may occur during the method 300.For example, the method 300 may complete when blocks 304, 310, and 312occurs and without the occurrence of block 302 and 306.

In block 302, a change in stress of a device (device or beam) associatedwith a unit may be detected. A non-smart device may by any device thatreceives stress and does not generate an stress report indicating itsstress, for example a legacy racket without IoT electronics. A change inthe stress of a non-smart device may be detected using an stressdetection module and/or usage meter associated with the unit, such asthe stress detection module 224 and/or the smart device 100. Forexample, non-smart device stress can be estimated by the load the unitcarries, the temperature cycling experienced by the unit, for example.

After a change in stress of the non-smart device is detected, the method300 proceeds to block 310. In block 304, a stress report from a smartdevice such as the smart device 100 associated with the unit may bereceived. A smart device may be a device that detects stress andgenerates and transmits an stress report indicating the stress on thesmart device. The stress report may indicate predicted future stress ofthe smart device. In some embodiments, a stress report may be receivedat set intervals from the smart device regardless of a change in thestress report. Alternately or additionally, a stress report may bereceived after a change in the stress of the smart device results in achange to the stress report. After a stress report is received from thesmart device, the method 300 proceeds to block 310.

In block 306, stress experienced at the unit may be detected. Stress atthe unit may be detected using a stress detection module, such as thestress detection module 224 of FIG. 2B. After detecting stress at theunit, the method proceeds to block 310. At block 310, it is determinedif a change in the stress occurred. For example, if an increase instress occurs at the same time and at the same amount as an increase inthe stress of a non-smart device, a change in the stress may not occur.If a change in the stress occurs, the method 300 proceeds to block 312.If no change occurs, the method 300 ends.

At block 312, a unit stress report is generated for the unit. In someembodiments, the unit stress report may indicate the current stress ofthe unit. Alternately or additionally, the unit stress report mayindicate a current and predicted future stress of the unit. At block314, the unit stress report is transmitted to a maintenance provider. Insome embodiments, the unit stress report may be transmitted when theunit stress report indicates a change in stress for the unit that isgreater than a predetermined threshold. If the unit stress reportindicates a change in stress for the unit that is less than thepredetermined threshold, the unit stress report may not be transmittedto the provider of maintenance services.

FIG. 5 shows in more details the computer 30 and the interface to theprobe 20. An amplifier 90 amplifies vibratory output from a transducer92. A pick up unit having an accelerometer (or an array) 96 receivesreflected vibrations from user arm or leg 94, among others. A computer98 includes a digital converter to digitize output from the pick-up unitand software on the computer 98 can process the captured diagnosticdata. Diagnostic software 100 can include a database of knownrestorations, diseases, and tissue conditions whose signatures can bematched against the capture diagnostic data, and the result can bedisplayed on a screen for review by the athlete.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart of a method of an embodiment of the presentdisclosure. Referring to FIG. 6 , a smart system may collect from smartdevices state change events of a smart system in operation 601. That is,the smart system of FIG. 4 collects information on each of the group ofdevices, the smart devices, the smart appliances, the security devices,the lighting devices, the energy devices, and the like. The state changeevents indicate when there is a change in the state of the device or thesurrounding environment. The state change events are stored by the smartsystem. In operation 603, the system may determine whether a series ofthe collected state change events are a known pattern. That is, thegateway determines whether there are events which have been correlatedor identified in the past. If the collected state change events havebeen identified in the past, it may be necessary to determine that thesmart system trusts the identification the collected state changeevents. The trust factor of the identification of the collected statechange events may be determined by the number of users who haveidentified the collected state change events or the number of timecollected state change events have been repeated and identified. Inoperation 605, when the series of the collected state change events isan unknown pattern, request users of the smart system to identify whatcaused the collected state change events request. That is, the systemtransmits to a gamification application (hereinafter app) on the user'smobile device a request to identify the collected state change events.The gamification app displays the information and request the user enterinformation identifying the collected state change events. Each of themobile devices transmits this information back to the system to thegamification module. In operation 605, the system transmits the user'sidentified collected state change events to the other user's of thesmart home system and they each vote on the best identification of thecollected state change events. Thus, the identified collected changestate events that have been repeatedly identified over a period of weeksincreases, the trustworthiness of the identification increases.Likewise, if every user of the smart system makes the sameidentification of the collected change state events, the identifiedcollected change state events may be considered trustworthy at point.Such a determination of a threshold for when the identified collectedchange state events are considered trustworthy and therefore need not berepeated, is made by a system administrator. However, it will beunderstood that such a trustworthiness of this type only gives higherconfidence of this particular dataset at that point in time. As suchfurther repetition is required, since the sensor data may have noise,the more datasets to be identified to the pattern, the more robust thetrustworthiness will be. Until the robustness reaches a threshold, thenthe system can confirm this is a known trustworthy pattern.

Smart Sport Glove

FIG. 7 shows an exemplary glove which can be thin to provide touchsensitivity or thick to provide shock protection for boxers. A body 12of the boxing glove ID includes an impact measuring device 14 isembedded within the glove 12 in an area protected from direct impact.Such an area includes the cuff 15 of the glove 12 or that portion of theglove 12 adjacent a user's palm, or adjacent an inside surface of auser's fingers. Placement of the impact measuring device 14 into thelining of the glove in such an area allows for the force of a blow to bemeasured without presenting a hazard to the recipient of the blow. Underthe embodiment, an impact measuring device 14 would be included in theright glove 12 for a right handed fighter, or the left glove 12 for aleft handed fighter. For fighters that are equally effective with bothhands, or to improve monitoring accuracy, an impact measuring device 14would be included in both gloves 12. The impact measuring system 20. Theimpact measuring system 20 includes an impact measuring device 14 andimpact display unit 16. The impact measuring device 14 is linked to theimpact display 28 via a radio frequency (rf) link 32. Under theembodiment, the impact measuring device 14 includes at least one 3-axisaccelerometer. A thin version of the glove can be worn to detect a golfstroke or a tennis stroke with legacy clubs or rackets that lacks IoTintelligence.

Smart Sport Band

FIG. 8 shows an exemplary stick on wearable monitoring device for sportsand fitness applications. The wireless sensor electronics 14 is mountedon a band-aid in the example of FIG. 8 . The band-aid can be removedupon completion of the sports event. The central patch can be recycled,and the adhesive portion can be disposed. While the embodiment is shownas a band-aid, the inventors contemplate that any suitable bands,straps, attachments can be used in lieu of the band-aid to attach thesensors to the body. For example, in Virtual Reality (VR) sportsapplications, sensors including gyroscopes and cameras can be positionedon various body portions to capture motion as well as eye tracking,mouth tracking, speech recognition, among others.

Smart Clothing

FIG. 9 shows an exemplary shirt based embodiment where sensors can bepositioned anywhere on the shirt and when worn, can capture position,video, and vital signs. One embodiment uses Samsung's Bio-Processor toprocess the bio-signals it measures without the need of externalprocessing parts with five AFEs including bioelectrical impedanceanalysis (BIA), photoplethysmogram (PPG), electrocardiogram (ECG), skintemperature, and galvanic skin response (GSR) into a single chipsolution that measures body fat, and skeletal muscle mass, heart rate,heart rhythm, skin temperature and stress level, respectively. Featuresof the smart clothe can include:

Smart Handle

FIGS. 11A-11B show an exemplary smart handle for sports such as tennis,badminton, table tennis, and golf, among others. The wireless sensorelectronics 14 is mounted on a handle in the example of FIG. 11B. Thehandle can be embedded or can be removed upon completion of the sportsevent. The sports event does not have to be real, for example, inVirtual Reality (VR) sports applications, sensors including gyroscopesand cameras can be positioned on various body portions to capture motionas well as eye tracking, mouth tracking, speech recognition, amongothers.

The handle includes a swing analyzer measurement portion 54 in the gripend 52 of the handle of a golf club or a tennis/badminton racket, and aremote or handheld unit 56. The swing analyzer measurement portion 54includes an accelerometer 16 of combination accelerometer and gyroscopeor magnetometer unit, a processor unit 5B coupled to the accelerometer16, and a battery 2D that is electrically coupled to and provides powerto the accelerometer 16 and processor unit 5B. A camera is included tocapture videos of the swing and also the game in progress for futurereference. A communications unit 60 is also housed in the grip end 52 ofthe golf club 50, receives power from the battery 2D, and is coupled tothe processor unit 5B. Swing analyzer measurement portion 54, with orwithout the communications unit 60, may be assembled as an integral unitand inserted into a hollow portion of the handle of the golf club ortennis/racket handle 50 at the grip end 52 thereof. Processor unit 5Bmay be an integrated device that includes hardware and softwarecomponents capable of processing acceleration measured by theaccelerometer(s) 16 and converting the measured acceleration into dataabout the force on the shaft and position of the face of the club atimpact at a set distance. If the measured force exceeds a threshold themeasured force or a signal derived therefrom is transmitted via thecommunications unit 60 to the handheld unit 56. If not, acceleration andface position at impact of the golf club or tennis racket handle 50 isobtained again. The threshold is set so that only acceleration or forcemeasurements arising from actual swings of the golf club 50 aretransmitted to the handheld unit 56.

Smart Protective Gear

FIGS. 12A-12C illustrate smart protective gears embedded with the IoTsensors and instrumentations to report potential health issues. Forsoccer, the protection includes shin guards. For football, theprotection includes Helmets, Chin Straps Chin Shields, Cups AthleticSupporters, Elbow Sleeves Arm Pads, Back Plates Rib Protection,Facemasks, Girdles, Helmet Visors, Shoulder Pads, Hip Tail Pads,Mouthguards, Neck Rolls. For motorcycling, the protection includeshelmet, should pads, jacket with back protection, padded gloves, leatherpants, knee pads, and boots. For rock climbing, the protection includesshoes, carabiners, webbing, harnesses, among others.

The wireless sensor electronics 14 is mounted on the helmet or shoulderpad in the example of FIG. 12A or 12C. The electronics 14 can beembedded or can be removed upon completion of the sports event. Thesports event does not have to be real, for example, in Virtual Reality(VR) sports applications, sensors including gyroscopes and cameras canbe positioned on various body portions to capture motion as well as eyetracking, mouth tracking, speech recognition, among others.

The protection gear includes an impact sensor such as an accelerometerto indicate if concussion has occurred. Other sensors can be used aswell. For example, the handle can contain conductive ink to capturebiometric. One embodiment uses Samsung's Bio-Processor which is anall-in-one health solution chip to measure bioelectrical impedanceanalysis (BIA), photoplethysmogram (PPG), electrocardiogram (ECG), skintemperature, and galvanic skin response (GSR) into a single chipsolution that measures body fat, and skeletal muscle mass, heart rate,heart rhythm, skin temperature and stress level, respectively. Thehandle can also contain other sensors including gyroscopes, temperatureand pressure sensors, moisture sensors, clocks, chemical and/orbiological sensors, etc.

Blockchain Authentication

The IoT machines can negotiate contracts on their own (without human)and exchange items of value by presenting an open transaction on theassociated funds in their respective wallets. Blockchain token ownershipis immediately transferred to a new owner after authentication andverification, which are based on network ledgers within a peer-to-peernetwork, guaranteeing nearly instantaneous execution and settlement.

A similar process is used to provide secure communications between IoTdevices, which is useful for edge IoT devices. The industrial world isadding billions of new IoT devices and collectively these devicesgenerate many petabytes of data each day. Sending all of this data tothe cloud is not only very cost prohibitive but it also creates agreater security risk. Operating at the edge ensures much fasterresponse times, reduced risks, and lower overall costs. Maintainingclose proximity to the edge devices rather than sending all data to adistant centralized cloud, minimizes latency allowing for maximumperformance, faster response times, and more effective maintenance andoperational strategies. In addition to being highly secure, the systemalso significantly reduces overall bandwidth requirements and the costof managing widely distributed networks.

In some embodiments, the described technology provides a peer-to-peercryptographic currency trading method for initiating a market exchangeof one or more Blockchain tokens in a virtual wallet for purchasing anasset (e.g., a security) at a purchase price. The system can determine,via a two-phase commit, whether the virtual wallet has a sufficientquantity of Blockchain tokens to purchase virtual assets (such aselectricity only from renewable solar/wind/ . . . sources, weather dataor location data) and physical asset (such as gasoline for automatedvehicles) at the purchase price. In various embodiments, in response toverifying via the two-phase commit that the virtual wallet has asufficient quantity of Blockchain tokens, the IoT machine purchases (orinitiates a process in furtherance of purchasing) the asset with atleast one of the Blockchain tokens. In one or more embodiments, if thedescribed technology determines that the virtual wallet has insufficientBlockchain tokens for purchasing the asset, the purchase is terminatedwithout exchanging Blockchain tokens.

The present system provides smart contract management with modules thatautomates the entire lifecycle of a legally enforceable smart contractby providing tools to author the contract so that it is bothjudge/arbitrator/lawyer readable and machine readable, and ensuring thatall contractual obligations are met by integrating with appropriateexecution systems, including traditional court system, arbitrationsystem, or on-line enforcement system. Different from theblockchain/bitcoin contract system where payment is made in advance andreleased when the conditions are electronically determined to besatisfied, this embodiment creates smart contracts that are verifiable,trustworthy, yet does not require advance payments that restrict theapplicability of smart contracts. The system has a contract managementsystem (CMS) that helps users in creating smart contracts fordeployment. After template creation, FIG. 13A shows a flow diagram ofthe functionality of system in accordance with one embodiment whenauthoring a contract using one of the smart contract templates. In oneembodiment, the functionality of the flow diagram of FIG. 13A isimplemented by software stored in memory and executed by a processor. Inother embodiments, the functionality can be performed by hardware, orany combination of hardware and software.

A smart contract is a computerized transaction protocol that executesthe terms of a contract. A smart contract can have the following fields:object of agreement, first party blockchain address, second partyblockchain address, essential content of contract, signature slots andblockchain ID associated with the contract. Turning now to FIG. 13A, at2, the user logs into the system to author a smart contract. The systemthen retrieves the appropriate contract template for the user, and auser interface renderer displays the corresponding deal sheet userinterface to the user. The selection of the appropriate contracttemplate can be based on many factors, including the role of the user,the intended parties to the contract, the type of contract desired, etc.At 4, the user enters the information that is requested by the userinterface based on the attributes displayed. Because the user interfaceis tailored specifically to the desired type of contract, the requiredcontract terms information for that type of contract will be entered bythe user as guided by the attributes of the template. The user mayinteract with the user interface through a single page or throughmultiple pages in a particular sequence with a forms wizard, or throughthe selection of tabs. In one embodiment, the user interface is renderedas a mark-up language such as XML showing the structure of therequirements of the contract. In other embodiments, the user interfaceis rendered as an Excel worksheet, Word document, or other applicationcompatible format that can be read by the contracting parties, lawyers,judges, and jury. At B, the contract is generated based on the userinput to the user interface. The contract can be in the form ofbytecodes for machine interpretation or can be the markup language forhuman consumption. If there are other contracts that are incorporated byreference, the other contracts are formed in a nested hierarchy similarto program language procedures/subroutines and then embedded inside thecontract. At B, the smart contract is assigned a unique block chainnumber and inserted into block chain. At ID, the smart contract is sentto one or more recipients, which open the payload and execute the termsof the contract and if specified contractual conditions are met, thesmart contract can authorize payment. At 12, if dispute arise, the CMScan graphically decode the contract terms in the smart contract forajudge, jury, or lawyer to apply legal analysis and determine theparties' obligations.

Cloud Storage Security

In another aspect, a distributed file storage system includes nodes areincentivized to store as much of the entire network's data as they can.Blockchain currency is awarded for storing files, and is transferred inBitcoin or Ether transactions, as in. Files are added to the network byspending currency. This produces strong monetary incentives forindividuals to join and work for the network. In the course of ordinaryoperation of the storage network, nodes contribute useful work in theform of storage and distribution of valuable data. In another aspect, amethod for providing electronic content retrieval with cloud computingis provided. A first request message is received in real-time on thefirst cloud application stored on the cloud server network device withthe one or more processors from a second cloud application. The firstrequest message includes a request for desired cloud electronic contentstored in the plural cloud storage objects stored on the selected onesof the plural other different cloud server network devices located onone or more of the networks comprising the cloud communications network.The plural different cloud storage objects function as a single securestorage object for electronic content on the cloud communicationsnetwork. A cloud content location map is retrieved securely on the firstcloud application on the cloud server network device. The cloud contentlocation map includes address locations of the selected ones of theplural other different cloud server network devices on the cloudcommunications network. The first cloud application on the cloud servernetwork device sends plural second request messages for the desiredcloud electronic content to the selected ones of the plural otherdifferent cloud server network devices identified in the retrieved cloudcontent location map and located on one or more of the publiccommunication networks, the one or more private networks, communitynetworks and hybrid networks comprising the cloud communicationsnetwork. The first cloud application on the first server network devicecombines the one or more individual components of the desired cloudelectronic content from the plural cloud storage objects from thereceived plural response messages into a final desired electronic cloudcontent component. The first cloud application on the cloud servernetwork device securely sends in real-time the final desired cloudelectronic content component as the request desired cloud electroniccontent to the target network device via the cloud communicationsnetwork. The second cloud application on the target network devicecannot determine the desired cloud electronic content was split and wasstored in plural cloud storage objects and cannot determine which ofplural selected ones of the other different cloud server network deviceson which ones of the public, private, community or hybrid networks onthe cloud communications network may have stored portions of the finaldesired cloud electronic content, thereby providing a second and/orfourth layer of security and privacy for the desired cloud electroniccontent on the cloud communications network.

To enable an IF device such as a car or a robot to access cloud datasecurely, and to grant access right to agents of the IF device such asmedia players in the car, for example, the following methods can beused: A method for accessing data, content, or application stored in acloud storage, comprising: authorizing a first client device; receivingan authorization request from the first client device; generating anauthorization key for accessing the cloud server and storing the key ina blockchain; providing the authorization key to the first clientdevice; receiving the authorization key from an IF device as a secondclient device working as an agent of the first client device; grantingaccess to the second client device based on the authorization key;receiving a map of storage locations of cloud objects associated with anapplication or content, each storage location identified in ablockchain; and reassembling the application or content from the storagelocations.

Automatic Execution of Smart Contract

While Ethereum mentions smart contract, it is actually mentioning theuse of executable codes on the blockchain. For example, the EthereumSolidity is a javascript like a language used to code smart contracts onthe Ethereum platform. It compiles into a bytecode format that isunderstood by the Ethereum Virtual machine (EVM). It's a strongly typedlanguage with the ability to define custom data structures. By smartcontract, the present system is referring to contracts and agreementsthat are automatically executed, with conditions and terms similar to alegal contract.

FIG. 1B show an exemplary smart contract specification user interfacefor a contract to buy a web site while FIG. 13C shows an exemplary UIfor an insurance contract. Many different types of contracts arefrequently needed to be created by organizations. For example, sell-sidecontracts may include contracts for selling products (e.g.,inventory-based products), services (e.g., warranties), projects (e.g.,construction), etc. Other types of contracts may be needed to be createdwhen purchasing products and services. Further, specialized contractsmay need to be created for leases, loans, intellectual propertyacquisition, etc. When authoring contracts, different types of contractslikely require different types of information to be captured. A genericcontract authoring tool cannot easily accommodate creation of thesedifferent types of contracts in a simple user friendly manner.Embodiments allow a contract administrator to create multiplespecialized user interface templates, also referred to as contracttemplates, or “deal sheet” templates, for many different types ofcontracts. A template may be based on the type of contract beingauthored, or be tailored for a particular user role. The systemgenerates a contract template designer user interface that provides theability to create and modify these templates. The template comprises aplurality of attributes organized in a predetermined and tailored way.The contract administrator may choose to create a template or modify anexisting template. Modifying a template involves changing whatattributes are included in the template and how they are organized. Thecontract administrator can include all the attributes that define acertain type of contractual arrangement or a subset of them and organizethem in the most logical way. When the template is used for authoring byan end user, the system renders a user interface based on the templateto the end user. The user interface rendered to an end user based on thetemplate can be referred to as a “deal sheet”.

The UI can operate with blockchains such as Bitcoin or Ethereum. Ratherthan have multiple separate silos, a blockchain (in its purest form) canact as a unified database that's accessible (on a read and write basis)by everyone (it is in effect “permissionless”). The ledger stored on ablockchain is shared amongst a distributed network of computers. The useof cryptography enables users to modify the master ledger without theneed for a central authority. With a blockchain there is no need for acentral trusted authority or for intermediaries. The disintermediationof intermediaries can redefine the value chain in a wide range ofindustries, from financial services to media, and puts the power andvalue of data back in the hands of the people creating that data.Blockchains can be public (such as the Bitcoin blockchain or theEthereum blockchain) these are effectively permissionless, or they canbe private (where access is restricted to a selected group of users).Advantages of the blockchain smart contract may include one or more ofthe following:

Preferably, the system uses Ethereum which has a complete programminglanguage, sometimes called EtherScript. Since most agreements involvethe exchange of economic value, or have economic consequences,categories of public and private law are implemented using Ethereum. Anagreement involving transfer of value can be precisely defined andautomatically enforced with the same script. FIG. 13C show an exemplarysmart contract specification user interface (UI) for a contract to buy aweb site while FIG. 13B shows an exemplary UI for an insurance contract.Smart contracts can have scriptable clauses that are executed in aruntime using the Ethereum environment in one example, and can havemultiple parties, each with their own agents and asset accounts. Fundstransfers go through a controlled interface, with notices and receiptssent to all relevant parties. The script code is unable to manipulateany assets excepting those explicitly declared beforehand on the smartcontract, and verified as valid property of a legitimate party to thecontract by looking up ownership information in the blockchain, amongothers. And when funds are moved, it's to a contract-specific name, notan account ID. The smart contract can move_funds( ) between thesedeclared accounts, as its script logic dictates, but it can alsostash_funds( ) directly inside the contract itself! For example, duringan escrow, funds might be stashed inside the smart contract for 14 or 3Ddays, and then transferred to one party or another. Scripted clauses canalso be configured to trigger on certain events. Variables can bedefined in the smart contract, which persist through its entirelifetime. As the smart contract—including its internal state—continuesto process over time, receipts will continue to drop into the relevantparties' inboxes, showing the change in state, in those variables,overtime. Smart contract variables can be defined as “Constant” (valuecannot change), “Persistent” (value can change, and will persist betweenscript runs), and “Important” (value is persistent, AND any changes inthe value will result in server notices being sent to the parties.)

Next, the functionality of system in accordance with one embodiment isdetailed when creating a contract/deal sheet template that can be usedfor authoring a contract. In one embodiment, the functionality of theflow diagram is implemented by software stored in memory and executed bya processor. In other embodiments, the functionality can be performed byhardware, or any combination of hardware and software. To set up, thecontract administrator logs onto the template designer application and apreviously created contract template designer UI is retrieved to bemodified, or a new design is created. In one embodiment, the contracttemplate designer UI is retrieved from database and displayed through anInternet browser to a user at a client computer. The contract templatedesigner UI includes user actions through a UI that allow attributes ofthe contract template to be customized for a specific type of contract.The system receives user attribute requests from the contractadministrator and modifies the contract template accordingly. Theattribute requests are generated by the contract administrator throughvarious actions in the designer tool. The modified contract template isstored in data catalog for later use in order to create the contract.

In addition to Ethereum, other blockchain or globally shared,transactional database can be used. To change something in the database,the system creates a transaction which has to be accepted by all others.One embodiment runs on an Ethereum Virtual Machine or EVM as the runtimeenvironment for smart contracts in Ethereum. It is not only sandboxedbut actually completely isolated, which means that code running insidethe EVM has no access to network, filesystem or other processes. Smartcontracts have limited access to other smart contracts. There are twokinds of accounts in Ethereum which share the same address space:External accounts that are controlled by public-private key pairs (i.e.humans) and contract accounts which are controlled by the code storedtogether with the account. The address of an external account isdetermined from the public key while the address of a contract isdetermined at the time the contract is created (it is derived from thecreator address and the number of transactions sent from that address,the so-called “nonce”). Every account has a persistent key-value storemapping 256-bit words to 256-bit words called storage. Furthermore,every account has a balance in Ether (such as in “Wei”) which can bemodified by sending transactions that include Ether.

FIG. 13D shows another exemplary process executed by the smart contractsystem. In (20) Buyer requests to obtain the service or item from theservice or item provider. In (24) Item provider utilizes the blockchainsystem described above and generates a cryptographic key pair and in(26) the service or item provider embeds the key data in the service oritem. In (28) the service or service or item provider stores the privatekey in association with an entity credential in the database. In (30) athird party validates the terms of the smart contract with the privatekey. In (32) the blockchain or shared ledger is analyzed to determine ifkey data was used and if contractual terms are satisfied according tocontract law expert system and if so mark the satisfaction of thecontract terms. In (34) the seller/provider is paid based on smartcontract and service or item is then made available to the buyer.

FIG. 13E shows one embodiment of a system (100) for monitoringcompliance with a smart contract. The system (100) includes a seller,provider or Offeree machine (110), an Offeror machine or buyer (120),and a financial system (130) providing at least one store of value(132). The Offeree machine (110) possesses, controls or otherwise hasaccess to a service, product or item (112) which is to be made availableto the Offeror machine upon acceptance (120). In the embodiment of FIG.13 , and primarily for illustrative purposes, the item (112) is asoftware application and service provider (110) is a software developer.The Offeror machine or buyer (120) has an electronic computing device(122), in this embodiment a desktop computer, by which it is able tocommunicate with the service or item provider (110). Communicationsbetween the service or item provider (110) and the electronic computingdevice (122) of the authorized entity (120) may be effected by way ofany suitable wired or wireless communications channel. In thisembodiment, the communications channel is the Internet. The Offereemachine or seller (110) has associated therewith an item receivingmodule (114) configured to receive the online service (software, music,video, . . . ) or physical item (112) and an embedding module (116) incommunication with the item receiving module (114) configured to embedkey data (134) in the service or item (112). The key data (134) isassociated with the store of value (132) and usable to conduct atransaction against the store of value (132), a record of such atransaction becoming visible in a transaction ledger (140). One of thecontracting parties, for example the Offeror machine or buyer (120), hasassociated therewith a monitoring module (115) configured to monitor thetransaction ledger to determine whether a transaction against the storeof value has occurred, and a designation module (117) in communicationwith the monitoring module (115) and configured to designate the item(112) as accessed by a third party in the event that a transactionagainst the store of value has occurred. A database (118) is operativein association with the item provider (110). The database (118) isconfigured to store the key data (134) embedded in the service or item(112) or data at least partially derived therefrom in association withan entity credential of the authorized entity (120) which is authorizedto possess the service or item (112).

FIG. 13F shows a block diagram (200) that illustrates a method ofvalidating completion of the term of the smart contract, using thesystem of FIG. 13D. At a first stage (202), the buyer (120) requests toobtain the service or item (112) from the service or item provider(110). For example, the buyer (120) accesses a website of the provider(110) using the electronic computing device (122) and selects a customapp or video, for example, to purchase. The key data (134) which is tobe embedded in the service or item (112) is an identifier uniquelyassociated with the store of value (132). The store of value (132) has abalance of digital currency. The financial system (130) of FIG. 13 is asystem for digital currency in the form of a blockchain. In thisembodiment, the store of value (132) is a blockchain address.Cryptocurrencies allow digital currency to be transferred betweenblockchain addresses without an intermediate financial institution orcentral authority. Exemplary blockchain systems include peer-to-peer,decentralized cryptocurrencies such as Ethereum (ETH), Bitcoin, Litecoinand PPCoin.

In this embodiment, the blockchain address (132) is represented by orderived from a blockchain public key corresponding to a blockchainprivate key. The public key is used and/or derived to obtain theblockchain address (132), the address (132) having a specific balance ofblockchain held therein. At a next stage (204), the item provider (110)utilizes the blockchain system described above and generates acryptographic key pair, in other words, a private key and a public keyassociated with a blockchain address (132). In this embodiment, theservice or item provider (110) generates the key pair and transfersfunds to the blockchain address (132). The private key represents adirect monetary value which can be traded in the blockchain system. Inthe case where the blockchain is, for example, Bitcoin or anotherblockchain system using a similar key and address scheme, the blockchainaddress (132) has a particular balance associated therewith, indicated,for example, as 3.5 BTC or 0.0001 BTC in the case of Bitcoin. At a nextstage (206), the service or item provider (110) embeds the key data inthe service or item (112) using the embedding module (116). In theembodiment of FIG. 13F, the key data (134) is the private key associatedwith the blockchain address (132). The service or item receiving module(114) typically receives the media item (112) before the private key(134) is embedded therein, from where it is transferred to the embeddingmodule (116). In this embodiment, the private key (134) is embedded inthe media item (112), which is an B-book, as a one-dimensional barcode(113). At a next stage (208), the service or service or item provider(110) stores the private key (134) in association with an entitycredential in the database (118), as described above. In thisembodiment, the entity credential includes a name, address and contactdetails of the authorized entity (120). The database (118) thereforeacts as a registry of keys, enabling the item provider (110) to keeptrack of which private keys are associated with which buyer (120). Theservice or item (112) is then, at a next stage (210), made available tothe authorized entity (120). In this embodiment, the authorized entity(120) may typically be able to download the B-book and store it locallyor in any physical or cloud-based storage location as desired. At (212)Shared ledger is analyzed to determine if key data was used and if somark the satisfaction of the contract terms and (214) Seller/provider ispaid based on smart contract and service or item (112) is then madeavailable to the buyer (120). Records of all transactions conducted inthe financial system (130) are held in the transaction ledger (140). Inthe embodiment, the transaction ledger (140) is a publicly visibleshared transaction ledger. Typically, the shared transaction ledger(140) includes all these transactions as a chain of transaction recordsor receipts, commonly referred to as a “block chain” in at least oneknown cryptocurrrency system. These transaction records are signed usingboth a private key and a public key, the private key being that of aparty transferring value and the public key being associated with areceiving address. The shared transaction ledger (140) is typicallypublicly accessible via a website or other Internet-based platform.

Transaction records are verified by third parties carrying out what isknown as “mining blocks”. Exemplary cryptocurrencies which make use ofproof-of-work verification schemes, such as Secure Hash Algorithm 256(SHA-256) or scrypt, are Bitcoin and Litecoin. An exemplary blockchainsystem employing a combined proof-of-work/proof-of-stake verificationscheme is PPCoin. The principles and functioning of suchcryptocurrencies having shared transaction ledgers containingtransaction records will be well understood by those skilled in the art.Importantly, such a system allows a party having access to a private keyor data at least partially derived therefrom to transact against acorresponding blockchain address, in other words, either use the fundslinked to the address or transfer the funds to a receiving address.These systems also allow any party to inspect or analyze the sharedtransaction ledger to determine whether a particular address wastransacted against. In the embodiment of FIG. 13F, the monitoring module(115) is used to inspect or analyze the shared transaction ledger (140),for example by using a web-based platform providing at least some of thetransaction records, as illustrated in FIG. 13 , whereby transactionrecords in the shared transaction ledger (140) can be accessed.

The buyer is therefore provided with a service or item which has areliable handle to a store of value embedded therein. Should the privatekey (134) not be read from the media item and used to transact againstthe blockchain address, the funds stored therein remain untouched andthe buyer either retains a deposit or token amount or is not heldaccountable and/or liable for the work done by the provider or seller(110).

However, if the service or item (112) is checked by a third party,leading to the private key (134) being read from the service or item(112) and used to transact in the blockchain system, some or all of thefunds may be spent as part of the transaction verification overhead toone or both of the buyer (120) and the seller/provider (110).Furthermore, the transaction is visible in the shared transaction ledger(140), making the possibly fraudulent activity immediately or relativelyquickly traceable. Upon verification, the payment for the completion ofthe contract term is automatically processed by the smart contract.

The flow diagram (300) of FIG. 13F illustrates a sequence of stepswhereby a completed contract term is verified. At a first stage (302),the buyer (120) makes an offer to buy under specific criteria servicesor items (112). At a next stage (304), a third party verifier (301)reviews the service or item (112) and reads the private key (134) fromthe media item (112). In the example of an application or a custom videoembedded with key data by way of a barcode described with reference toFIG. 13 , the third party (301) may use a barcode-reading technique toobtain the private key (134) which is embedded in the B-book.

The private key may be readable from the service or item by any thirdparty that accesses the item either directly or using a software tool.The software tool may, for example, be a publicly available softwaretool. The third party (301) verifies that the requirements for the termof the contract are satisfied and then, at a next stage (306), utilizesthe blockchain system to move funds from the blockchain address (132)corresponding to the private key (134) to a desired address, or spendsall or some of the funds in any other way.

Use of the private key (134), which serves as or may be derived from thekey data uniquely associating the authorized entity (120) with theservice or item (112), may typically include use of the private key(134) and a receiving public key to conduct a blockchain transactionagainst the blockchain address (132) in favor of a receiving blockchainaddress. Such a transaction may involve transferring at least some of abalance of blockchain held at the blockchain address (132) to a second,receiving blockchain address represented by or derived at leastpartially from a second, receiving blockchain public key.

After the third party (301) has conducted the above transaction, at anext stage (308), a record of the transaction becomes visible in theshared transaction ledger (140) or “block chain”. The service or itemprovider (110) or any other party fulfilling this function analyses theshared transaction ledger (140) at a next stage (310) to determinewhether the private key (134) was used to conduct a transaction. In thiscase, due to the transaction conducted by the third party (301), theshared transaction ledger (140) indicates, at a next stage (312), thatthe blockchain address (132) was transacted against and therefore thatthe private key (134) was used after validating the terms of the smartcontract.

The service/item provider (110), at a final stage (314), in response todetermining that a transaction was conducted against the store of valueusing the identifier which was embedded in the service or item (112),updates the database (118) to indicate that the identifier was used totransact against the value store, in other words, that the private key(134) was used as payment for validating satisfaction of contractualterm(s). This prompts the item provider (110) or other party managingthe monitoring of the shared transaction ledger (140) to designate theitem (112) terms as satisfactorily verified by a third party.

The transaction record in the shared transaction ledger (140) may beused by the item provider (1 l 0), or, of course, by any entity or agentmonitoring the shared transaction ledger (140) on behalf of the itemprovider (110), to extract, obtain or derive the private key (134),public key or simply the blockchain address. The obtained information ismatched with the key data stored in the database (118) in associationwith the entity credential. In this way, the authorized entity (120) maybe unambiguously identified and the item provider (110) is able toobtain payment pursuant to the smart contract.

A further example of an embedding technique is natural languagewatermarking or natural language morphology, whereby, for example,sentence construction of a document may be watermarked. In one example,the structure of one or more sentence constituents in a natural languagetext may be used to insert a watermark into a document.

Preferably, the key data is embedded using a robust technique, whichmakes it relatively easy to read or derive the private key, whilecompletely removing, obscuring or obliterating the key data from theservice or item is made comparatively difficult. In some embodiments,removing the key data from the service or item destroys the item, makesthe value associated with the blockchain address unusable, materiallyalters the item's content or makes it subsequently unusable.

In cases where more than one different private key is embedded in theservice or item, each private key corresponds to a separate blockchainaddress having a balance of blockchain. Alternatively, a single privatekey embedded in the service or item may be associated with a pluralityof blockchain addresses in the database, the authorized entity typicallybeing held liable for funds held in one or more of the plurality ofaddresses.

It is foreseen that the service or item provider may have managementsoftware used for any one or more of the following functions: to receivethe service or item using the service or item receiving module, togenerate the necessary cryptographic key pairs, to store keys inassociation with entity credentials, to embed private keys in service oritems using the embedding module, to distribute or otherwise allowentities to obtain requested items, to monitor the shared transactionledger using the monitoring module, and to use the designation module todesignate a service or item as accessed by a third party in the eventthat a transaction against a particular blockchain address becomesvisible in the shared transaction ledger. Designating a service or itemas accessed by a third party may refer to any action taken an entity toconfirm or establish that the key data embedded in the service or itemwas compromised and used to transact against the relevant blockchainaddress.

The blockchain address may be controlled and/or managed by any partycapable of monitoring the transaction ledger to determine whether atransaction against the store of value has occurred. The party maytypically be an individual having ownership or control of the service oritem, a group having ownership or control of the service or item, theauthorized entity itself, the service or item provider as describedabove, or a third party associated with the service or item provider.

It should specifically be noted that the blockchain address may becontrolled and/or managed by a third party embedding service provider.In such cases, one or more of the service or item receiving module, theembedding module, the monitoring module, the designation module and thedatabase may be associated with the embedding service provider such thatthe embedding service provider is capable of embedding the key data inthe service or item on behalf of the service or item provider andperforming one or more of the further functions associated with themodules mentioned and the database.

The service or item may be embedded with the key data by the embeddingservice provider on behalf of the authorized entity. In such cases,embedding the service or item with the identifier and/or the managing ofblockchain addresses and keys are outsourced to and carried out by anexternal service provider.

It should be appreciated that the entity controlling and/or managing theblockchain address may elect to change the balance of blockchain storedat the blockchain address by conducting transactions against the addressto increase or decrease its value. Such action may be taken, forexample, in response to the service or item becoming compromised or tocreate a reward or incentive for finding the service or item and/or thekey data embedded therein.

It should be appreciated that the service or item may have variousformats and is not limited to the transfer of a file or document. In oneexample, the authorized entity may select media content to stream orvideo content to download to a personal device.

In addition to the use of a blockchain system, any suitable conventionalpayment systems and channels may be employed to purchase, rent orotherwise transact to obtain the service or item. Alternatively, noconventional payment may be required.

In the embodiment of FI. 13F, the blockchain address is controlled andmanaged by the service or item provider. The service or item providerthen generates the key pair and transfers funds to the blockchainaddress.

Alternatively, the blockchain address may be associated with a key pairof the authorized entity, the authorized entity providing the service oritem provider with the private key to enable the service or itemprovider to uniquely identify transactions conducted against theblockchain address. The authorized entity may have generated the keypair, provides the private key to the service or item provider, and theservice or item provider transfers funds to the blockchain address. In afurther embodiment, the authorized entity, after generating theblockchain address and transferring funds to the blockchain address,provides the private key to the service or item provider.

In an exemplary blockchain system, Bitcoin, the blockchain address is a160-bit hash of the public portion of a public/private Elliptic CurveDigital Signature Algorithm (ECDSA) keypair. In at least one knownblockchain system, the blockchain address is therefore algorithmicallyconverted from a public key. However, it should be appreciated that theblockchain address may be the public key itself, or any other identifierderived at least partially from the public key. The blockchain addressand public key may thus comprise different values or strings ofcharacters that are uniquely associated with each other such that theprivate key remains unambiguously linked to the blockchain address. Thesystem is not limited to one or more particular blockchain systems, aswill be apparent to those skilled in the art.

In embodiments of the system, the balance associated with the blockchainaddress may be less than an inherent value of the service or item. Theservice or item may be made available to the authorized entitypermanently. This may typically be the case for physical or biologicalitems or media items such as, among others, music files, software andelectronic books. If the service or item is made available to theauthorized entity permanently, the authorized entity may be held liablefor unauthorized distribution of the service or item at any time afterthe service or item is made available to the authorized entity.

Alternatively, the service or item may be made available for apredefined period of time or until a predefined condition is met. Forexample, the service or item may be streaming media, in which case theauthorized entity is only held liable for compromising the private keyembedded in the media during a specific timeframe, for example, untilstreaming has ended. A predefined condition which lifts accountabilityand/or liability from the authorized entity may be returning of theservice or item to the service or item provider. Alternatively, theservice or item provider may monitor the shared transaction ledger for aperiod of time to determine whether the blockchain address is transactedagainst before liability is lifted. Alternatively, the authorized entitymay be held liable.

In one embodiment for corporate management, the blockchain comprisescode for storing a stock identifier (ID), a stock certificate numberwith stock quantity. Other embodiments may include:

code to determine a share registry or a capitalization table from eachstock certificate number and stock quantity,

code to distribute shareholder communication from a share registry or acapitalization table,

code to collect secure shareholder votes from a share registry or acapitalization table for transparent corporate governance,

code to provide financial information to shareholder a share registry ora capitalization table for corporate governance, or

code to enforce majority or supermajority shareholder votes from a shareregistry or a capitalization table for corporate governance.

Stock trading settlements are nearly instantaneous because cryptographiccurrency transactions are independently and extemporaneously generated,verified, and executed within the network, without the risks associatedwith traditional clearing houses that can delay settlements for severaldays.

The system can be used for political voting as well. In the corporateshareholder example above, the shareholder is authenticated by virtue ofher security transactions. However, for political voting, this option isnot available and in one example, at the start of the voting process,the voter's identity has been verified and the voter is allowed to voteunder whichever laws apply in the jurisdiction. Thee voter is issued aprivate key. This private key may be issued as a barcode printed on apiece of paper or another physical medium, a private key printed as abarcode on a physical ballot, or on an electronic medium such as a USBstorage device, RFID device, or other computer readable medium. Theprivate key is received at the voting machine. If the private key is abarcode it is received through a scanner on the voting machine. If theprivate key is on an electronic storage medium, it is received throughwhatever means is appropriate for the electronic storage medium. Thevalidity of the private key is verified and the voting machine checks tomake sure the private key was issued through the proper authority, andhas not yet been used. The voting machine receives votes from the voter,this is done electronically through a graphical interface of the votingmachine, or by scanning a physical ballot through the voting machine'sscanner. The votes are then stored on the blockchain. According to oneembodiment, this involves storing the public key to uniquely identifythe voter and the electronic identifiers of the candidates or localissue that the voter voted for. Typically the electronic identifiers ofthe candidates will also be public keys, but any identifier could beused to uniquely identify which candidates the voter voted for. Thevoting data is digitally signed using the voter's private key and thevoting data is broadcast to the distributed network. Once the votingdata is available to the distributed network, one or more of the votingmachines that act as nodes on the distributed network can try to solvefor the next block with the voting data included in the payload of thevoting block.

According to an embodiment, the voting system combines three differentsecurity systems, of which none can be compromised or disabled in thesame way. The three systems are (a) a physical record through paper orother hard copy version of a voting ballot, (b) a cloud based protectionwhich would use a computer interface and the internet to transferresults taken after the scanning of special, one-use-only ballots andoffload them onto a cloud storage, and (c) storage on a customizedblockchain or blockchain type apparatus. Results would be stored in eachof these three media. However, vote counting should be done using thetwo computer media for the sake of timeliness. The paper recordpreservation can assist in auditing the vote and other records.

FIG. 13G is a diagram 320 depicting an example transaction message 322.Transaction messages 322 are used by the system for changing Blockchaintoken 329 ownership. A transaction message 322 includes a transaction303 and the sender's digital signature 332 of the transaction 323. Thetransaction 303 includes the recipient's address 324 (e.g., a hash valuebased on the receiver's public key), the Blockchain token 308 (i.e., astock ID 328 and its position 326), past ownership information 331 (ifany), and optional other information 310 (e.g., a market order type toindicate whether the transaction is to buy or sell a Blockchain token328). The transaction 323 is digitally signed by the sender's privatekey to create a digital signature 332 for verifying the sender'sidentity to the network nodes. The network nodes decrypt the digitalsignature 332, via the sender's previously exchanged public key, andcompare the unencrypted information to the transaction 323. If theymatch, the sender's authenticity is verified and, after a proper chainof ownership is verified via the ledgers (as explained above), thereceiver is recorded in the ledgers as the new Blockchain token 329owner.

The above system can determine trade settlement automatically for stock.However, the same arrangement can be used for commodities such as fortrading sugar, vegetable, among others. For commodities, in place of thecorporate governance information, information on location ofmanufacturing and supply chain is encoded to assure that the commodityis coming from where it is represented. For example, a buyer may specifythat the electricity is coming only from solar energy, or that a fruitis coming only from a tropical region, or a diamond is from a particularlocation and not unethically procured, for example. In this embodiment,the transaction message 322 includes the transaction 303 for a productand the sender's digital signature 332 of the transaction 323. Thetransaction 303 includes the recipient's address 324 (e.g., a hash valuebased on the receiver's public key), the Blockchain token 308 (i.e., theitem ID 328 and the buy/sell position 326), past ownership information331 (if any), and optional other information 310 (e.g., a market ordertype to indicate whether the transaction is to buy or sell a Blockchaintoken 328). The transaction 323 is digitally signed by the sender'sprivate key to create a digital signature 332 for verifying the sender'sidentity to the network nodes. The network nodes decrypt the digitalsignature 332, via the sender's previously exchanged public key, andcompare the unencrypted information to the transaction 323. If theymatch, the sender's authenticity is verified and, after a proper chainof ownership is verified via the ledgers (as explained above), thereceiver is recorded in the ledgers as the new Blockchain token 329owner. Location, temperature, shock, and tamper proof data can be storedin 328. One exemplary embodiment includes an application that can bedownloaded to a device with location information such as a computer or asmart phone with GPS system. In one embodiment, a trusted person with asmart phone/computer physically inspect a manufacturing station or areainside a manufacturing and creates a first blockchain record with thecurrent local position inside the manufacturing facility. The trustedperson has a credential which is recorded in the first blockchainrecord, and all items being manufactured and passing through the stationor area chain back to the first blockchain. The trusted person thenrepeats this process for each manufacturing station/area in thefacility, and each item manufactured by the facility can be completelytracked through each manufacturing station or area using theblockchains. The system provides full “chains of custody” that tell thestories of products and provides a centralized system with a governingthird party was, until recently, the only conceivable way to achievedata and transaction transparency along supply chains. The globalpeer-to-peer network is an open platform that can deliver neutrality,reliability and security. The blockchains are auditable. Each individualoperation or interaction, such as the provision of a new employee or therecording of outgoing stock, is perfectly recorded and archived.Auditing is thus as simple as joining the blockchain network, as thisallows one to “replay” the operations of the past in order toreconstruct the history of the item from birth to the present. Combinedwith the absolute guarantees of authenticity for every interaction,strong and agile data systems can be facilitated that are at their coreresilient to coercion and human factors. With blockchains, data can beaccessed and verified by everyone, rather than solely by the originalcertifier.

The system enables the physical goods and materials to be identified andlinked with their digital representation on the blockchain (e.g., serialnumbers, bar codes, digital tags like RFID and NFC, genetic tags) iscrucial in uniquely identifying a physical good with its digitalcounterpart. At Provenance we are exploring many new and existingtechnologies; an overview of recent technologies can be found here.Identities are recorded in production and manufacturing programs, andfor simplicity and easy adoption we expect them to take the form ofexisting barcodes and serial numbers which are linked to blockchainidentifiers using a secure hash.

User-facing applications facilitate access to the blockchain. The finalowner of the product has access to secure information about theproduct's supply chain, without having access to identification details.The final owner of the product has access to secure information aboutthe product's supply chain, without having access to identificationdetails.

By design, every transaction along a supply chain on the blockchain isfully auditable. By inspecting the blockchain, smartphone applicationscan aggregate and display information to customers in a real-timemanner; furthermore, due to the strong integrity properties of theblockchain, this information can be genuinely trusted. A user interfacesheds light on the digital journey of a product can empower betterpurchases by giving users a true choice that they can exercise. Thereare substantial broad Effects of bringing near-frictionless transparencyto consumer purchase decisions and product identity; clearly there islikely to be an additional “virtuous” component in purchase decisions,especially among mid-level purchases where a marginal increase of 20% tothe price does not affect the willingness to buy. Additional levels ofguarantee over genuine articles is a high-value use case. While aninitial introduction of this technology may be in the form of a discreteand removable label, easily verified through a smartphone-readableQR-code, a more progressive possibility would be a conspicuoushologramatic or RFID tag, embedded in the brand label, allowing theowner to prove the authenticity of the product at any time by accessingthe data on the blockchain through the tag.

In the system, everyone has a profile accessible with a private key.Profiles can be public or private depending on use case and permissions.Some are rich with information, whilst others simply contain ananonymous ID. The system supports the registration of named participants(i.e. certifiers, auditors, producers, and manufacturers). Suchparticipants may request registration of their digital identity whichlinks their real-world identity with their blockchain-based digitalidentity, thus allowing them to interact with the blockchain using theirreal-world identity. Upon request, the registration authority verifiestheir identity and records the result in the blockchain, available forall to inspect.

These programs represent the implementation of schemas for properrecognition of a standard (e.g. no animal testing, biodynamic, fairlabor). Through these programs, standards organizations provide for thecreation of compliant production or manufacturing programs (see below),allowing instances or batches of goods and materials to be added to orprocessed on the blockchain. Such producers or manufacturers may requireinspection by a certifier or auditor of their facilities and processesto be able to obtain and operate a certified program. Successfulverification results in the deployment of a production or manufacturingprogram that is both registered with the certification program andauthenticated by an auditor, and allows a producer to create thedigitally tradeable equivalent of a good (i.e., a token that shadows thereal-world material or product).

In an implementation, a circuit can be associated with a manufactureditem and/or a component of the item (an “object”). The circuit can beassociated with the item or component by inserting it, affixing it(e.g., with glue), incorporating it as a part of a 3D printingfabrication, or in any other way to associate the circuit. In animplementation, the chip is associated with the object in atamper-resistant way. That is, if an unauthorized attempt is made toalter the circuit, the circuit can render itself non-functional orchange its behavior to indicate that it may not be reliable.

In an implementation, the circuit contains a code that can indicate aparticular one or more of a geographic location, a specificmanufacturing facility, a specific manufacturer, the identity of aworker, a time reference indicating the date and/or time at which thecircuit was activated or associated with the object and any otherinformation that would be useful in establishing the provenance of theobject and the compliance of the manufacturer or assembler with relevantrules, regulations and laws (“manufacturing data”). The data encoded inthe circuit can be cryptographically protected. For example, the datacan be encrypted using a symmetric or asymmetric key using any suitablecryptographic protocol known in the art.

The label is associated with an object, such as on the object or onpackaging of the object. The label can include one or more elements ofmanufacturing data, such as the purported location(s) of manufactureand/or assembly. The one or more circuits can be read for some or all ofthe data they contain. The label manufacturing data can be compared tothe label manufacturing data. An implementation can indicate if there isa match between the label and manufacturing data. An implementation canindicate any and all differences between the label and manufacturingdata. An implementation can automatically send a message to a regulatoryor other authority if a difference is detected. The message can includeelements such as a product name, a product retailer, a productmanufacturer, a product serial number, etc. and indications of thediscrepancies between the label data and the manufacturing data.

For wide ranging manufacturing processes taking multiple GPScoordinates, the computer or phone has an application with a GPSsending/receiving module to obtain GPS coordinates of the smart phone orcomputer with a GPS device. For example, the computer or phone 1 mayreceive satellite location data, signal time of flight data, etc. Theapp includes a GPS sending receiving module that may transmit a requestfor satellite position data in some instances. In some configurations,the GPS sending/receiving module may be utilized to obtain or receive ageo-fence. The geo-fence may indicate the boundaries of the factories orit may represent a predefined area around and including the smart phone.

The app can read the tag ID and associate manufacturing informationincluding geolocation with a blockchain entry. This is done for eachstage of manufacturing and also for each shipping transit points untilthe retailer point. Upon purchase, the buyer can inspect the chain ofmanufacturing and shipping logistics to verify authenticity. Moreover,when the buyer sells the item as a used good, the transaction is alsorecorded to the blockchain, and eventually when the item is stripped forparts, the sale of the parts associated with the item is also recordedon the blockchain, thus effecting birth-to-end tracking of the item.Information from the producer is securely cascaded to the manufactureron receipt. These programs implement the transformation of input goodsfrom production into output goods. Much as with production programs,once deployed by the certifier the programs are operated bymanufacturers, but with one additional constraint: input goods must be“used” for any output to be created, just as in the physical world. Forexample, the registration of a certain amount of organic cotton fabricrequires as input the appropriate amount of raw organic cotton, andafter this usage the raw organic cotton should no longer be usable.Because of its auditability, the blockchain provides the same cast-ironguarantee as in the physical world; namely, that creation of an outputgood can happen if and only if the required input is used.

By design, every transaction along a supply chain on the blockchain isfully auditable. By inspecting the blockchain, smartphone applicationscan aggregate and display information to customers in a real-timemanner; furthermore, due to the strong integrity properties of theblockchain, this information can be genuinely trusted. A thoughtful userinterface that sheds light on the digital journey of a product canempower better purchases by giving users a true choice that they canexercise.

The success of the system relies on the registration of identities andrecording of transactions and information. This enables actors on thesupply chain to carry and prove the defining attributes of theirmaterial products to any actor further along the chain. Certain users,however, might be concerned about their privacy or the privacy of theirsuppliers further up the chain. Identities can be protected in ablockchain-based system, while still transferring other salientinformation. For example, manufacturers in the middle of the supplychain can securely pass a certificate with full authenticity downstreamwhile keeping their identity private. For customers, the describedsystem provides the ability to check important attributes of purchasedgoods without necessarily seeing the full intricacies of the supplychain that created them. The system also allows for the trusted proof ofownership thanks to Public-Private Key Infrastructure (see box) withoutrevealing their identity of owners to the system. In fact, customers caneven use the system to sell a good on a secondary market, allowing thechain to continue post sale throughout the product lifecycle.

Implementations of the application can store location and other data sothat a user (such as a retailer, a distributor, a consumer, etc.) canknow that if an item is actually produced at a factory at which it ispurported to be made, along with the transportation paths andenvironmental conditions associates with the item in an authenticatedmanner. A website may be provided to the user (e.g., a consumer). Insome instances, access to the website may be configured and/ormaintained by the retailer or manufacturer. The website may beaccessible to a consumer when, for example, the consumer scans a labelon the item. The scan may launch a web browser and load the website onthe consumer's electronic device such as a smartphone. The consumer maybe able to view information about the location of the one or morefactories that made or were involved in the production of the item towhich the label is attached and the trips made by the item andenvironmental conditions (temperature, shock, etc) before it got to theconsumer. The consumer may view, for example, pictures of the factory,data about the factory (e.g., wage information, carbon footprint, sizeof the factory, inspection data, social compliance data, regulatoryviolations if any, etc.). The data about the may be provided as auditeddata and unaudited data. Audited data may refer to data that may bevalidated by a secondary authority (e.g., the retailer). Unauditedinformation may refer to user-provided commentary or data (e.g.,pictures, videos, news articles).

A retailer may contract with a manufacturer to create an item (e.g.,smartphone or garment) at a first location. As disclosed herein, acircuit useful for associating a location with a component or an item ofwhich the component is a part may be included (e.g., inserted, affixedto, etc.) in the component. A location associated with the circuit maybe received and/or obtained. In some configurations, where themanufacture involves multiple steps, it may be desirable to obtain alocation at each step of the process. The location data may beassociated with a time reference each time it is obtained and/orreceived. Additional data may also be associated with the location data(e.g., the step in the process to be associated with the location data,name of individual overseeing the step in the process, etc.). Theadditional data may be automatically entered or user entered. Forexample, the cutting of fabric to make a garment may be performed by amechanical device. The device may obtain, enter, and/or receive thelocation data from the circuit and store, upload, enter, etc. that thelocation data at the time of the cutting process corresponds to thatprocess. After the item is manufactured, it may be packaged. A label maybe affixed, printed, obtained, etc. and associated with the package. Thelabel may correspond to a second location. The label location data maybe compared to the circuit location data to validate that the item wasmade and packaged at the same factory or location. In someconfigurations, the label may be associated with the item at a timeprior to packaging the item or subsequent to packaging the item (e.g.,during invoicing). A retailer may access the location data obtained fromthe circuit and/or the label to verify the manufacture of the item. Insome configurations, the retailer may expose the data and/or allowaccess to the data by a consumer of the item.

Birth Certificate or Forms of ID

In one embodiment, the first blockchain is created when a baby is bornand subsequent medical events are appended to the blockchain. A birthregistration application can be installed on a smart device, such as asmart-phone, having location detection function with an image of thebaby as encoded in a blockchain. Using such an application allows thebirthing attendant and/or birth parents to generate a permanent birthregistration report. The location of the user is verified, based on asecond location detection method, using the computerized device. Ablockchain hash or security key is established with a registrationauthority according to the location, using the computerized device. Apicture of a newborn child at birth is obtained, using the computerizeddevice. Instruction on birth registration requirements according to thelocation are provided, using the computerized device. A birthregistration report is generated in compliance with the birthregistration requirements according to the location, using thecomputerized device. The birth registration report comprisesidentification of the location, a picture of the newborn child, a handprint (including fingerprints), afoot print (including toe prints) and atime stamp that identifies a time and date of the birth. The birthregistration report is encrypted according to the security key, usingthe computerized device. The security key prevents altering the birthregistration report. The birth registration report is transmitted usingthe blockchain in encrypted format to a registrar of birth records forthe location, using the computerized device. The birth registrationreport is stored in encrypted format on the computerized device.

According to a handheld device for registering a birth, a camera isoperatively connected to the handheld device. The camera takes a pictureof a newborn child at birth. The camera can be used to scan the hand andthe foot to create handprints, footprints, fingerprints, among others. Acommunication device is operatively connected to the handheld device. Aprocessor is operatively connected to the camera and the communicationdevice. The processor establishes a location of a user of the handhelddevice using a first method. The processor verifies the location of theuser of the handheld device using a second method. The processorprovides instruction to the user on birth registration requirementsaccording to the location. The processor establishes a blockchainsecurity key with a registration authority according to the location.The processor generates a registration report in compliance with thebirth registration requirements according to the location. Theregistration report comprises the location, the picture of the newbornchild, and a time stamp that identifies a time and date of the birth.The processor encrypts the birth registration report according to thesecurity key. The security key prevents altering the birth registrationreport. The processor transmits the birth registration report inencrypted format to the registration authority, using the communicationdevice. The processor stores the birth registration report in encryptedformat on the handheld device.

According to a computer program product for enabling a smart-phone forregistering a birth, the computer program product comprises a tangiblecomputer readable storage medium having program code embodied therewith.The program code is readable and executable by a computer to provide anapplication to the smart-phone to enable the smart-phone to perform amethod. According to the method, a location of the smart-phone isdetermined, based on a first location detection method. The location ofthe smart-phone is verified, based on a second location detectionmethod. Instruction on birth registration requirements according to thelocation is provided. A security key is established with a registrationauthority according to the location. A picture of a newborn child atbirth is obtained, using a camera application of the smart-phone. Abirth registration report is generated in compliance with registrationrequirements according to the location. The birth registration reportcomprises the location, the picture of the newborn child, a time stampthat identifies a time and date of the birth and a blockchain referencewith a private key. The birth registration report is encrypted accordingto the security key. The blockchain and security key prevents alteringthe birth registration report. The birth registration report istransmitted in blockchain format to the registration authority.

A country's political constitution or founding charter generallydetermines who is a national of that country, who is an alien, and hownationality can be acquired or lost. Some Governments follow theprinciple of jus soli, whereby those born within the country's territoryare nationals, even if one or both parents came originally from anothercountry. In such a case, birth registration gives the child automaticright to citizenship of the country in which he or she was born. Byenabling birth registration capability in a smart device, the physicalbarriers to registration can be removed. Such capability should capturea greater number of unregistered births. According to devices andmethods herein, this solution would reach remote areas of the globalpopulation where childbirth education may not be available. Details ofdata required for registration can be associated with the locationobtained by the GPS in order to determine required country-to-countryinformation. While the information shown in a birth record and on abirth certificate may vary from country to country, the names of thechild, the parents, the attending physician, midwife, birth attendant,or other witnesses are generally included, together with the date andplace of birth, and the name and signature of the registrar. Otherinformation may include the age of the mother and the child's height,weight and gestational age. Ensuring the rights to a name andnationality and to know one's parents implies that registration should,as a minimum, include the child's name, gender, date, and place ofbirth, and the name, address, and nationality of both parents. Somecountries, such as Qatar, require additional information on thecertificate, such as immunization status, and issue an immunization cardalong with the birth registration certificate. In the United States, forexample, birth registration may also include application for a SocialSecurity number. While a person's name may be their most distinctiveindication of individuality-a right recognized in the CRC-additionaldata, such as family ties and nationality, promote the child's right tolegal protection by parents and by the state.

The birth registration app according to devices and methods hereinallows the birthing attendant and/or birth parents to:

-   -   a. Record, using GPS, the place and time of delivery.    -   b. Using the smart device camera, obtain a visual image of the        newborn child as supporting documentation and generate features        based on face recognition of the child and store the features as        blockchain data.    -   c. Using the smart device microphone, record the cry/voiceprint        of the newborn child as blockchain data.    -   d. Register the birth of the newborn child in compliance with        the birth country's requirement.    -   e. Sign the registration with a private key and upload to the        blockchain or a decentralized ledger to prevent subsequent        alteration of the registration.    -   f. Provide a unique ID pointing to birth registration on the        block chain.

Citizenship, ID Dr Credit History Identification

The above system to produce a digital birth certificate can also be usedto provide a digital driver's license, passport, Social Security card,credit cards, or other identification information to clearly establishthe identity of the individual.

The need for some form of personal documentation is a constant of dailylife in most modern societies. Depending on the prevailingadministrative arrangements, establishing one's identity may beessential for a wide range of activities, including the registration ofbirths and deaths, contracting marriage, obtaining employment, housing,hospital care or rations, qualifying for social benefits, enteringeducational institutions, or requesting the issuance of officialdocuments and permits. To meet these needs, as well as for reasons ofpublic order, many countries have established a system of nationalidentity cards. Such cards, besides identifying the holder, can alsoserve as evidence of civil status and of nationality. In virtually allcountries, lawfully resident aliens also receive some kind of residencepermit which may at the same time serve as an identity document. In oneaspect, the invention applies the blockchain birth certificate as proofof citizenship, and the blockchain can follow the person from birththrough his/her life to establish identity for voting, governmentbenefits (social security, medicare, state college admission, etc) orfor credit rating purposes, among others. The blockchain is subsequentlysupplemented with a history of payment of utility bills, mortgagestatements, credit reports, credit card bills, a verified statement froma government official such as a police officer, judge, or otherindividual that establishes the identity and indicates the stability ofthe individual and that individual's presence in a predeterminedlocation for a period of time.

Due to the circumstances in which they are sometimes forced to leavetheir home country, refugees are perhaps more likely than other aliensto find themselves without identity documents. Moreover, while otheraliens can turn to the authorities of their country of origin for helpin obtaining documents, refugees do not have this option and aretherefore dependent upon the authorities of their country of refuge. Theblockchain authentication of the refugee enables an official examiningthe blockchain identity data to be satisfied that the data is authenticand also that the person using the document is in fact the person towhom it was issued.

One embodiment used three different ways of identifying each person:

microchip in a license/badge the person carries

digital fingerprint using blockchain

video image.

Each person also had the fingerprint electronically scanned into thesystem. This was recorded against their ID blockchain as a backup. If arefugee cut off their wristband, they can be finger scanned again tocheck who they were. Also, if anything really important was supposed tohappen with one of the refugees, the authority can double check themicrochip and the fingerprint to make sure they had the right person.Video image is used to check someone's identity by comparing their facewith the video image. In one embodiment, biometric data can be includedin the blockchain. In this system, an entire immediate family history ofDNA data is included in birth certificate blockchain and provides accessfor any future needs.

In one embodiment, a permissioned blockchain is used where predeterminedtrusted parties are authorized to initiate individuals or organizationsonto the blockchain and thus vouched for by a trusted point, such as agovernment license issuer (dept of public safety or the social securityadministration, . . . ), a professional licensing authority (barassociation or a pharmacy licensing board, for example), an identityprovider, a bank, or other organization with whom they already have atrusted relationship. Individuals can initiate their own identity ifthey wish. Once an initial identity record has been established, anidentity owner can add additional identity “claims” (attributes,identity transactions, identity proofs) to their identity. Only theidentity owner can see and manage this data.

When an identity owner wants to use their identity, they will be askedfor some information by a relying party; examples might include name,address and date of birth. The identity owner will find those entries intheir identity which match the requirements of the relying party, andthen give the relying party access to those records. The relying partywill be able to, with the identity owner's permission, verify the issuerof the identity data which the issuer will have digitally signed. Whendata is shared in this way, a consent record is written to the identityowner's and relying party's identity records to confirm that the datahas been shared, by whom, to whom, for what reason, and with whatconstraints. All decisions about trust in an identity record depend ontrust relationships between the parties reading and writing the records.Each relying party will be able to verify the issuer of a claim, e.g.,doctor's association, driving license issuer, bank, insurance company,etc. and also that the claim has not changed since writing. So eachrelying party can determine if the claim issuer is one they can trust. Acommunity of relying parties (e.g., banks, insurance companies,universities, government agencies) can define a trust framework thatwill define the rules for verifying a claim or credential to a certainlevel of assurance (LHA), and then issuers operating under that trustframework can indicate the LHA that applies when they write a claim tothe ledger. Every claim (credentials/attributes) can be revoked by theissuer. The form revocation takes depends on the type of credential andprivacy requirements. A key revocation is recorded on the ledger. Therevoked key is superseded by an updated value, and no subsequent misuseis possible.

Different from Bitcoin or Ethereum which uses one identifier in multipleplaces, the one identifier can be correlated by different vendors andthe correlation can be used to amass data about the user withoutpermission. For example, the web visits, facebook likes, and googlesearches can be combined to provide exacting information about the user.To avoid correlation, the system provides user with different identifierfor each vendor, and each identifier is a public-private key pair, wherethe user only shares the public key or the verification key. Thus,different identifier/key pairs are used for banks, schools, governmentapplications, associations, among others. The pairs are carried in theuser's wallet.

The system also supports claims-based identity where the identity ownermakes a statement about itself to another entity. Claims can be issuedby one identity owner to a second identity owner and then presented to athird identity owner in a way that they can be cryptographicallyverified. One embodiment uses the w3C Verifiable Claims Task Force athttps//www.w3.org/Payments/IG/wiki/mainPage/ProposalsQ42015/VerifiableClaimsTaskForce, the content of which isincorporated by reference. In one embodiment, the claims can becleartext, encrypted, hash signature, proof of existence, or anonymouscredential type of claim. Cleartext claims are directly readable, withno hashing or encryption. Public cleartext claims are intended forpublic identities with no expectation of privacy such as public recordsof ownership that can be fully verified, for example. Encrypted claimscontain an encrypted version of a cleartext claim. Hash signature claimscontain a specially encrypted tree of cleartext claims, where theidentity owner can selectively reveal specific claims to specificrelying parties. Proof of existence claims (aka POE claims or hashclaims) are simply hashes of digital objects that enable an identityowner to prove that a digital object existed at a point in time. POEclaims are especially useful for proving consent as required underprivacy regulations. Anonymous credentials transmit claims informationwithout actually containing either a cleartext or encrypted version ofthe claims data. Rather they are a cryptographic method of providing aproof about a claim. For example, an anonymous credential is a proof ofage (i.e., “over 18”) that does not reveal the actual birthdate. Withclaims, the user can claim a relationship with a trusted party such as aschool and once verified by the school, the relationship is stored aspart of identity. In another example, the user can claim to be alicensed doctor from a particular state licensing authority (as atrusted party) and once validated by the licensing authority, suchstatus becomes part of the user's identity. The user can provide justthe information required. For example, in a bar, if checked, the usercan provide a response that he or she is over 18 as a claim withoutexposing birthdate and driver license information.

Medical History

The above permissioned blockchain can be used to share sensitive medicaldata with different authorized institutions. The institutions aretrusted parties and vouched for by the trusted pont. A Patient-ProviderRelationship (PPR) Smart Contract is issued when one node from a trustedinstitution stores and manages medical records for the patient. The PPRdefines an assortment of data pointers and associated access permissionsthat identify the records held by the care provider. Each pointerconsists of a query string that, when executed on the provider'sdatabase, returns a subset of patient data. The query string is affixedwith the hash of this data subset, to guarantee that data have not beenaltered at the source. Additional information indicates where theprovider's database can be accessed in the network, i.e. hostname andport in a standard network topology. The data queries and theirassociated information are crafted by the care provider and modifiedwhen new records are added. To enable patients to share records withothers, a dictionary implementation (hash table) maps viewers' addressesto a list of additional query strings. Each string can specify a portionof the patient's data to which the third party viewer is allowed access.For SOL data queries, a provider references the patient's data with aSELECT query on the patient's address. For patients uses an interfacethat allows them to check off fields they wish to share through agraphical interface. The system formulates the appropriate SOL queriesand uploads them to the PPR on the blockchain.

In one embodiment, the transaction 303 includes the recipient's address324 (e.g., a hash value based on the receiver's public key), theBlockchain token 309 (i.e., a patient ID 328 and personally identifiableinformation such as Social Security 326), past medical institutionrelationship information 331 (if any), and optional other information310. The transaction 323 is digitally signed by the patient who is thesender's private key to create a digital signature 332 for verifying thesender's identity to the network nodes. The network nodes decrypt thedigital signature 332, via the sender's previously exchanged public key,and compare the unencrypted information to the transaction 323. If theymatch, the sender's authenticity is verified and, after a proper chainof ownership is verified via the ledgers (as explained above), thereceiver is recorded in the ledgers as the new Blockchain token 326authorized owner of the medical information. Block 328 of FIG. 13 canpoint to off-chain storage warehouses containing the patient's medicalhistory so that the current owner (or all prior owners) can access thepatient medical information for treatment. Further, the information canbe segmented according to need. This way, if a medication such ascannabis that requires the patient to be an adult, the system can bequeried only to the information needed (such as is this patient anadult) and the system can respond only as to the query and there is noneed to send other question (in the adult age example, the systemreplies only adult or not and does not send the birthday to theinquiring system).

FIGS. 13J-13N show exemplary chain of custody (CCC) and supply chaintracking system of drugs such as cannabis. FIGS. 13J-13K illustrate oneembodiment for general network system architecture of the CCC managementsystem, whereas FIGS. 13L-N show exemplary smart phone tagging systemwhere pictures are taken at each stage of plant growth and processor andthe pictures are immutably supplemented with personally identifiableinformation such as plant GPS location, temperature, humidity, and soilcondition. At every stage, the signature and the ID of the person takingthe image and the authentication of the person is also added to theimage. Here, the CCC system can include one or more central databases,repositories, or servers 6100 in bi-directional communication over anetwork with one or more of government or regulatory agencies 6130;manufacturer, grower, harvester, processor, wholesaler 6110;distributor, commercial entity, merchant, third party 120. Here, each ofparties 6110, 6120, and 6130 may be one or more of servers, databases,networks, computing devices, among others. Further, it is contemplatedwithin the scope of the disclosure described herein that there may beany number of other entities that may communicate with central serverID. In addition, tag//identification smart phones 6200, 6202, 6204,6206, 6206, and 6210 can also communicate bi-directionally with centralserver 6100. Here, smart phones 6200-6210 operate to detect, read,decode, sense, or scan identification, tag, code, encoded data from oneor more of tagged cannabis items or products 6300, which will later bedescribed in detail within this disclosure. The smart phones 6200-6210can transmit the tagged data to the central server 6100 and/or to one ormore of entities 6110, 6120, and 6130. In addition, any of entities6110, 6120, 6130, or server 6100 may control or manage smart phones6200-6210, such as requesting detected identification tags data from thecannabis products 6300 prior to, during, or after receipt of thecannabis at a custodian location. Here, smart phones 6200-6210 may alsotransmit data automatically to server 100 or any one of entities 6110,6120, and 6130. It is contemplated within the scope of the disclosuredescribed herein that any other configuration or network architecture,computing devices, and modules may also be incorporated. In oneembodiment, the data can include metadata or other data that can belinked to more in-depth data as the central server.

FIG. 13J illustrates one general overview diagram for one embodiment ofthe CCC management device, system, and method of the disclosuredescribed herein. More specifically, the CCC system is not limited tocannabis or marijuana and can also be applicable to the chain of custodytracking, management, and identification of all types of agricultural,plant, medicinal, food, drug, or pharmaceutical materials and endproducts. Here, the CCC system can include one or more cannabis tags canbe secured pictures taken by verified persons (inspectors/employees,among others whose identity is pre-vetted/pre-verified and accessible onthe blockchain) and such pictures can be embedded with tags such asdate/time, GPS location, temperature, humidity, and/or soilcharacteristics, among others). The tags can manifest on the picturetaken by the inspector/agent, or can be hidden as meta tags within thepicture and the hidden files can be embedded into a JPEG image using the7-Zip and the Windows command line, or the app can hide data in fileswith steganography tools. The tags can include but are not limited tophysical, molecular, chemical or biological.

In one embodiment, an Internet of Things (IOT) device includes a devicebody; an accelerometer coupled to the body to detect acceleration; acamera to capture an image; a wireless transceiver; and a processorcoupled to the transceiver, the accelerometer and sensor.Implementations of the embodiment can include one or more of thefollowing. A blockchain can be accessed by the processor to store datafor the device. A module can compare a professional activity with a useractivity to improve plant growth. A module can manage a chain of custodyfor cannabis. A a module can perform image tagging of one or morecannabis plants. The image can be coupled to the blockchain. The imagecan be immutable and unmodifiable. The image includes embeddedinformation including a signature of a person taking the image. Theimage includes embedded information including a positioning systemcoordinate and a temperature. The image includes embedded informationnot visible to an eye. A module can manage a chain of custody for anobject, a drug or user identity. Identification tags can be on a surfaceof the one or more cannabis plants. A module can identify a custodianlocation from one or more of: a seed grower facility, a plant harvesterfacility, a processing facility, a distribution facility, a retailfacility. A reader can perform one of: photonic, magnetic, x-ray, radiofrequency, chemical, microcode, florescence, genetic, electronicanalysis, spectroscopy analysis. Identification tags can be mixed ordispersed within a plant or an extracted cannabinoid. The system canwork with photographically tagged plants, chemically tagged plants,photographically tagged cannabis plants, chemically tagged cannabisplants, cannabis plants, matured cannabis plants, cannabis plantcuttings. A cannabis extraction machine can receive blockchain data onthe cannabis.

Another embodiment of the CCC system includes a grower and/or harvesterseed inventory chain of custody. Here the grower is producing plants anda seed inventory as an asset, which also requires a CCC system to manageand control seed inventory and to ensure that no seeds are inadvertentlyshipped to the processor with the harvested plants. After seeds areremoved from the plants, the grown plants can then be shipped to theprocessor. Further, the growers CCC system also helps with managingquality control of seed production. Here, from the very first seed, manymore seeds can be obtained from the grown plants to further the grower'sbusiness until a regulated growing limit is reached. It is furthercontemplated within the scope of the disclosure described herein thatgrower or harvester's tagged inventory can also be read/scanned and thedata sent to a central database server.

In this embodiment, reference package seeds 6026 are tagged using bottlewith ID codes thereby tagging both the package and seeds therein withencoded identification codes. A smart phone can further confirm thebottle ID code and the reference seed can be delivered to the growingarea such as a green house, field, facility, or other suitable medium inorder to grow cannabis plant from seed. Grown or growing plant can alsobe image tagged and associated with the seed ID from the bottle ID. Thetagging of the plants can ideally be divided into batches, each batchhaving unique tag codes, and wherein each batch may then be sized toaccommodate the shipping packages or other means of delivery. Further,shipping/packaging labels having scannable optical bar codes, DR codes,or RFID or other codes that represent the aggregate or contents of thecontained shipment, may be used to track batched shipping of thecannabis or end product. Here, the grown plant can be segregated intomanageable growth batch areas, and each batch area chocked for CCC withsmart phone. After plants 31 grown or matured, the seeds can then beharvested and delivered to package seeds. Here, package seeds can thenbe tagged and then be checked and confirmed by a smart phone and theseeds can then be placed into inventory for future use by the grower.Here, since data can be recorded and stored in a computer database, theseeds' unique codes may be traced and tracked to the end user orconsumer and from the end-user or consumer back to the grower inventory.This allows the grower the ability to track plant quality, potency,genetics, origin, and a processors extraction equipment performance foreach batch of the end product or cannabinoid yield, including trackingthe end product or oil to consumers and government authorities andreporting to government agencies. When dispensed to patient, the batchof THC or drug on the blockchain can be added to a patient database onthe blockchain.

In another embodiment, the system includes two look up tables, a globalregistration look up table (GRLT) where all participants (medicalinstitutions and patients) are recorded with name or identity string,blockchain address for the smart contract, and Patient-Provider lookuptable (PPLT). This is maintained by a trusted host authority such as agovernment health authority or a government payor authority. Oneembodiment maps participant identification strings to their blockchainaddress or Ethereum address identity (equivalent to a public key). Termsin the smart contract can regulate registering new identities orchanging the mapping of existing ones. Identity registration can thus berestricted only to certified institutions. The PPLT maps identitystrings to an address on the blockchain.

Patients can poll their PPLT and be notified whenever a new relationshipis suggested or an update is available. Patients can accept, reject ordelete relationships, deciding which records in their history theyacknowledge. The accepting or rejecting relationships is done only bythe patients. To avoid notification spamming from maliciousparticipants, only trusted providers can update the status variable.Other contract terms or rules can specify additional verifications toconfirm proper actor behavior.

When Provider 1 adds a record for a new patient, using the GRLT on theblockchain, the patient's identifying information is first resolved totheir matching Ethereum address and the corresponding PPLT is located.Provider 1 uses a cached GRLT table to look up any existing records ofthe patient in the PPLT. For all matching PPLTs, Provider 1 broadcasts asmart contract requesting patient information to all matching PPLTentries. If the cache did not produce a result for the patient identitystring or blockchain address, Provider 1 can send a broadcast requestinginstitutions who handles the patient identity string or the blockchainaddress to all providers. Eventually, Provider 2 responds with itsaddresses. Provider 2 may insert an entry for Provider 1 into itsaddress resolution table for future use. Provider 1 caches the responseinformation in its table and can now pull information from Provider 2and/or supplement the information known to Provider 2 with hashedaddresses to storage areas controlled by Provider 1.

Next, the provider uploads a new PPR to the blockchain, indicating theirstewardship of the data owned by the patient's Ethereum address. Theprovider node then crafts a query to reference this data and updates thePPR accordingly. Finally, the node sends a transaction which links thenew PPR to the patient's PPLT, allowing the patient node to later locateit on the blockchain.

A Database Gatekeeper provides an off-chain, access interface to thetrusted provider node's local database, governed by permissions storedon the blockchain. The Gatekeeper runs a server listening to queryrequests from clients on the network. A request contains a query string,as well as a reference to the blockchain PPR that warrants permissionsto run it. The request is cryptographically signed by the issuer,allowing the gatekeeper to confirm identities. Once the issuer'ssignature is certified, the gatekeeper checks the blockchain contractsto verify if the address issuing the request is allowed access to thequery. If the address checks out, it runs the query on the node's localdatabase and returns the result over to the client.

A patient selects data to share and updates the corresponding PPR withthe third-party address and query string. If necessary, the patient'snode can resolve the third party address using the GRLT on theblockchain. Then, the patient node links their existing PPR with thecare provider to the third-party's Summary Contract. The third party isautomatically notified of new permissions, and can follow the link todiscover all information needed for retrieval. The provider's DatabaseGatekeeper will permit access to such a request, corroborating that itwas issued by the patient on the PPR they share.

In one embodiment that handles persons without previous blockchainhistory, admitting procedures are performed where the person's personaldata is recorded and entered into the blockchain system. This data mayinclude: name, address, home and work telephone number, date of birth,place of employment, occupation, emergency contact information,insurance coverage, reason for hospitalization, allergies to medicationsor foods, and religious preference, including whether or not one wishesa clergy member to visit, among others. Additional information mayinclude past hospitalizations and surgeries, advance directives such asa living will and a durable power to attorney. During the time spent inadmitting, a plastic bracelet will be placed on the person's wrist withtheir name, age, date of birth, room number, and blockchain medicalrecord reference on it.

The above system can be used to connect the blockchain with differentEHR systems at each point of care setting. Any time a patient isregistered into a point of care setting, the EHR system sends a messageto the GRLT to identify the patient if possible. In our example, PatientA is in registration at a particular hospital. The PPLT is used toidentify Patient A as belonging to a particular plan. The smartcontracts in the blockchain automatically updates Patient A's care plan.The blockchain adds a recommendation to put Patient A by looking at thecomplete history of treatments by all providers and optimizes treat. Forexample, the system can recommend the patient be enrolled in a weightloss program after noticing that the patient was treated for sedentarylifestyle, had history of hypertension, and the family history indicatesa potential heart problem. The blockchain data can be used forpredictive analytics, allowing patients to learn from their familyhistories, past care and conditions to better prepare for healthcareneeds in the future. Machine learning and data analysis layers can beadded to repositories of healthcare data to enable a true “learninghealth system” can support an additional analytics layer for diseasesurveillance and epidemiological monitoring, physician alerts ifpatients repeatedly fill and abuse prescription access.

In one embodiment, an DI medical device captures patient data in thehospital and automatically communicates data to a hospital database thatcan be shared with other institutions or doctors. First, the patient IDand blockchain address is retrieved from the patient's wallet and themedical device attaches the blockchain address in a field, along withother fields receiving patient data. Patient data is then stored in ahospital database marked with the blockchain address and annotated by amedical professional with interpretative notes. The notes are affiliatedwith the medical professional's blockchain address and the PPR blockchain address. A professional can also set up the contract termsdefining a workflow. For example, if the device is a blood pressuredevice, the smart contract can have terms that specify dietaryrestrictions if the patient is diabetic and the blood pressure isborderline and food dispensing machines only show items with low saltand low calorie, for example.

Patient Behavior and Risk Pool Rated Health Plans With the advent ofpersonal health trackers, new health plans are rewarding consumers fortaking an active part in their wellness. The system facilitates opendistribution of the consumers wellness data and protect it as PHR mustbe, and therefore prevent lock-in of consumers, providers and payers toa particular device technology or health plan. In particular, since PHRdata is managed on the blockchain a consumer and/or company can grantaccess to a payer to this data such that the payer can perform groupanalysis of an individual or an entire company's employee base includingindividual wellness data and generate a risk score of the individualand/or organization. Having this information, payers can then bid oninsurance plans tailored for the specific organization. Enrollment then,also being managed on the blockchain, can become a real-time arbitrageprocess. The pseudo code for the smart contract to implement a patientbehavior based health plan is as follows.

store mobile fitness data

store consumer data in keys with phr_info, claim_info, enrollment_info

for each consumer:

add up all calculated risk for the consumer

determine risk score based on mobile fitness data

update health plan cost based on patient behavior

Patient and Provider Data Sharing

A patient's Health BlockChain wallet stores all assets, which in turnstore reference ids to the actual data, whether clinical documents inHL7 or FHIR format, wellness metrics of activity and sleep patterns, orclaims and enrollment information. These assets and control of grants ofaccess to them is afforded to the patient alone. A participatingprovider can be given full or partial access to the data instantaneouslyand automatically via enforceable restrictions on smart contracts.

Utilizing the Health BlockChain the access to a patient's PHR can begranted as part of scheduling an appointment, during a referraltransaction or upon arrival for the visit. And, access can just aseasily be removed, all under control of the patient.

Upon arrival at the doctor's office, an application automatically logsinto a trusted provider's wireless network. The app is configured toautomatically notify the provider's office of arrival and grant accessto the patient's PHR. At this point the attending physician will haveaccess to the patient's entire health history. The pseudo code for thesmart contract to implement a patient and provider data sharing is asfollows.

Patient download apps and provide login credential and logs into theprovider wireless network

Patient verifies that the provider wireless network belongs to a patienttrusted provider list

Upon entering provider premise, system automatically logs in and grantsaccess to provider

Patient check in data is automatically communicated with provider systemto provide PHR

Provider system synchronizes files and obtain new updates to the patientPHR and flags changes to provider.

Patient Data Sharing

Patient's PHR data is valuable information for their personal healthprofile in order to provide Providers (Physicians) the necessaryinformation for optimal health care delivery. In addition this clinicaldata is also valuable in an aggregate scenario of clinical studies wherethis information is analyzed for diagnosis, treatment and outcome.Currently this information is difficult to obtain due to the siloedstorage of the information and the difficulty on obtaining patientpermissions.

Given a patient Health BlockChain wallet that stores all assets asreference ids to the actual data. These assets can be included in anautomated smart contract for clinical study participation or any otherdata sharing agreement allowed by the patient. The assets can be sharedas an instance share by adding to the document a randomized identifieror nonce, similar to a one-time use watermark or serial number, a uniqueasset (derived from the original source) is then generated for aparticular access request and included in a smart contract as an inputfor a particular request for the patient's health record information. Apatient can specify their acceptable terms to the smart contractregarding payment for access to PHR, timeframes for acceptable access,type of PHR data to share, length of history willing to be shared,de-identification thresholds or preferences, specific attributes of theconsumer of the data regarding trusted attributes such as reputation,affiliation, purpose, or any other constraints required by the patient.Attributes of the patient's data are also advertised and summarized asproperties of the smart contract regarding the type of diagnosis andtreatments available. Once the patient has advertised their willingnessto share data under certain conditions specified by the smart contractit can automatically be satisfied by any consumer satisfying the termsof the patient and their relevance to the type of PHR needed resultingin a automated, efficient and distributed means for clinical studies toconsume relevant PHR for analysis. This process provides an automatedexecution over the Health BlockChain for any desired time period thatwill terminate at an acceptable statistical outcome of the requiredattained significance level or financial limit. The pseudo code for thesmart contract to implement automated patient data sharing is asfollows.

Patient download apps and provide login credential and logs into theclinical trial provider wireless network

Patient verifies that the provider wireless network belongs to a patienttrusted provider list

Upon entering provider premise, system automatically logs in and grantsaccess to provider

Patient check in data is automatically communicated with provider systemto provide clinical trial data

In one embodiment, a blockchain entry is added for each touchpoint ofthe medication as it goes through the supply chain from manufacturingwhere the prescription package serialized numerical identification (SNI)is sent to wholesalers who scan and record the SNI and location and thento distributors, repackagers, and pharmacies, where the SNI/locationdata is recorded at each touchpoint and put on the blockchain. Themedication can be scanned individually, or alternatively can be scannedin bulk. Further, for bulk shipments with temperature and shock sensorsfor the bulk package, temperature/shock data is captured with theshipment or storage of the medication.

A smart contract assesses against product supply chain rule and cancause automated acceptance or rejection as the medication goes througheach supply chain touchpoint. The process includes identifying aprescription drugs by query of a database system authorized to track andtrace prescription drugs or similar means for the purpose of monitoringthe movements and sale of pharmaceutical products through a supplychain; a.k.a. e-pedigree trail; serialized numerical identification(SNI), stock keeping units (SKU), point of sale system (POS), systemsetc. in order to compare the information; e.g. drug name, manufacturer,etc. to the drug identified by the track and trace system and to ensurethat it is the same drug and manufacturer of origin. The process canverify authenticity and check pedigree which can be conducted at anypoint along the prescription drug supply chain; e.g. wholesaler,distributor, doctor's office, pharmacy. The most optimal point forexecution of this process would be where regulatory authorities view thegreatest vulnerability to the supply chain's integrity. For example,this examination process could occur in pharmacy operations prior tocontainerization and distribution to the pharmacy for dispensing topatients.

An authenticated prescription drug with verified drug pedigree trail canbe used to render an informational object, which for the purpose ofillustration will be represented but not be limited to a unique mark;e.g. QR Code, Barcode, Watermark, Stealth Dots, Seal or 2 Dimensionalgraphical symbol, hereinafter called a certificate, seal, or mark. Anexemplary embodiment for use of said certificate, mark, or seal can beused by authorized entities as a warrant of the prescription drug'sauthenticity and pedigree. For example, when this seal is appended to aprescription vial presented to a patient by a licensed pharmacy, itwould represent the prescription drug has gone through an authenticationand logistics validation process authorized by a regulatory agency (s);e.g. HHS, FDA, NABP, VIPP, etc. An exemplary embodiment for use of saidcertificate, mark or seal would be analogous to that of the functioningfeatures, marks, seals, and distinguishing characteristics thatcurrently authenticate paper money and further make it difficult tocounterfeit. Furthermore, authorized agents utilizing the certificateprocess would be analogous to banks participating in the FDIC program.

A user; e.g. patient equipped with the appropriate application on aportable or handheld device can scan the certificate, mark or seal andreceive an audible and visible confirmation of the prescription drug'sname, and manufacturer. This will constitute a confirmation of theauthenticity of the dispensed prescription drug. Extensible use of thecertificate, mark, or seal will include but not be limited to; gainingaccess to website (s) where additional information or interactivefunctions can be performed; e.g. audible narration of the drug'scharacteristics and physical property descriptions, dosing, information,and publications, etc. A user; e.g. patient equipped with theappropriate application on a portable or handheld device can scan thecertificate, mark, or seal and be provided with notifications regarding;e.g. immediate recall of the medication, adverse events, nowformulations, critical warnings of an immediate and emergency naturemade by prescription drug regulatory authorities and, or their agents. Auser; e.g. patient equipped with a portable or handheld device with theappropriate application software can use the portable and, or handhelddevice to store prescription drug information in a secure, non-editableformat on their device for personal use; e.g. MD's Office Visits,Records Management, Future Authentications, Emergency use by firstresponders etc. A user; e.g. patient equipped with the appropriateapplication on a portable or handheld device can scan the drug via anoptical scan, picture capture, spectroscopy or other means ofidentifying its physical properties and characteristics; e.g. spectralsignature, size, shape, color, texture, opacity, etc and use this datato identify the prescription drug's name, and manufacturer. A user; e.g.patient equipped with the appropriate application on a portable orhandheld device and having the certification system can receive updatedinformation (as a subscriber in a client/server relationship) on acontinuing or as needed ad hoc basis (as permitted) about notificationsmade by prescription drug regulatory authorities regarding; e.g.immediate recall of medications, adverse events, now formulations andcritical warnings of an immediate and emergency nature. A user; e.g.patient, subscriber to the certificate system equipped with theappropriate application on a portable or handheld device will benotified by audible and visible warnings of potential adverse affectsbetween drug combinations stored in their device's memory of previously“Certified Drugs.” A user; e.g. patient subscriber to the certificationsystem equipped with the appropriate application on a portable orhandheld device will receive notification of potential adverse affectsfrom drug combinations, as reported and published by medicalprofessionals in documents and databases reported to; e.g. DrugEnforcement Administration (DEA), Health and Human Services, (HHS) Foodand Drug Administration, (FDA) National Library of Medicines, (NLM) andtheir agents; e.g., Daily MEd, Pillbox, RX Scan, PDR, etc.

1. A method for prescription drug authentication by receiving acertificate representing manufacturing origin and distributiontouchpoints of a prescription drug on a blockchain.

2. A method of claim 1, comprising retrieving active pharmaceuticalingredients (API) and inactive pharmaceutical ingredients (IPI) from theblockchain.

3. A method of claim 2, comprising authenticating the drug aftercomparing the API and IPI with data from Drug Enforcement Administration(DEA) Health and Human Services, (HHS) Food and Drug Administration,(FDA) National Library of Medicines, (NLM) etc. for the purpose ofidentifying the prescription drug'(s) and manufacture name indicated bythose ingredients.

4. A method of claim 1, comprising tracing the drug through a supplychain from manufacturer to retailer, dispenser with Pedigree Trail,Serialized Numerical Identification (SNI), Stock Keeping Units (SKU),Point of Sale System (POS) E-Pedigree Systems.

5. A method of claim 1, comprising generating a certificate, seal, markand computer scannable symbol such as 2 or 3 dimensional symbol; e.g. QRCode, Bar Code, Watermark, Stealth Dots, etc.

6. A method of claim 5, comprising rendering a seal on a prescriptiondrug housing presented to a patient by a licensed pharmacy indicating anauthentication and logistics validation process authorized by regulatoryagencies prior to being dispensed.

7. A method of claim 5, comprising reading the certificate (mark) andreceiving confirmation of the prescription drug's name and manufacturer.

8. A method of claim 7, comprising linking to a web site withinformation about the drug's characteristics and physical propertydescriptions, dosing, information, and publications, drug recall of themedication, adverse events, new formulations, critical warnings of animmediate and emergency nature made by prescription drug regulatoryauthorities or manufacturers.

9. A method of claim 5, comprising storing prescription drug informationin a secure, non-editable format on their device for personal use; e.g.MD's Office Visits, Records Management, Future Authentications,Emergency use by first responders.

10. A method of claim 5, comprising reading drug content from thecertificate and comparing the drug content with a scan of the drug viaan optical scan, picture capture, spectroscopy or other means ofidentifying its physical properties and characteristics; e.g. spectralsignature, size, shape, color, texture, opacity, etc. and use this datato identify the prescription drug's name, and manufacturer.

11. A method of claim 5, comprising communicating a potential adverseeffect notification(s) arising from drug combinations in databases heldby regulatory authorities and their agencies including Health and HumanServices (HHS), Food and Drug Administration (FDA), National Library ofMedicines (NLM), Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Daily Med,Pillbox, RX Scan, PDR, or third party databases.

Verifying Authenticity of Prescription for Medication

In one aspect, a method for verifying the authenticity of prescriptionsused to control the dispensing of medicaments, the method comprising:

prescribing a medicament entitlement token with a blockchain identifierunique to a patient and a blockchain identifier unique to a prescribingprofessional at a prescribing location;

transmitting the token to a dispensing location;

retrieving the blockchain identifier of the patient at the dispensinglocation;

authenticating the patient based on the blockchain identifier of thepatient; and

dispensing the medicament to the patient.

The system makes healthcare data easily accessible with relativelyminimal privacy and hack risk to all patient stakeholders, including thepatient themselves, family, caregivers, clinics, providers, insurancecompanies and all those with a stake in their patients' health. Each andevery one of these stakeholders or network peers approved by the patientcan easily join health blockchains as either nodes or buyer or seer oftokens or payments to gain access to patient data, utilizing a varietyof open access methods and smart contracts that store and monitorreal-time contractual conditions agreed to by and between variousstakeholders. The health blockchains can be used for tracking thedevelopment of drugs, doctor and nurses credentialing, real-timepopulation health data analysis and alerts, insurance peer-to-peer riskpooling, telemedicine and home health visit data sharing, decentralizedautonomous organizations, verification and audits, and remote devicemonitoring commonly addressed today under the Internet of Thingscategory. The blockchains enable analytics-for-healthcare products andservices, malpractice insurance and friction-less claims processinghence shorter revenue cycles. Smart contracts powered by a blockchaincan provide consumers and payors with the means to manage claims in atransparent, immutable and responsive fashion. Insurance contracts,premium payments and their respective claims can be recorded onto ablockchain and validated by node consensus, preventing fraudulent claimsfrom being processed. Smart contracts can enforce claims triggeringpayments when due or dispatching specialists, nurses or doctors tofollow up with patients when anticipated claims are not recorded bypresumptive dates.

In one embodiment, behavioral contracts are developed between payor andpatient to trigger rewards for attending support groups, regularlyengaging a telehealth professional, reporting health conditions(possibly at kiosks with bitcoin point-of-care devices), and meetingagreed upon health goals. A smart contract would trigger a rewardpayment (or loss) when goals are met near real-time to the patient'spublic bitcoin address which in turn can be tendered at localparticipating outlets equipped with point-of-contact devices includingcommunity centers, supermarkets and apartment complexes to pay bills,purchase healthy foods and meet rent obligations.

FIGS. 13H-13I show exemplary medical supply chain that works withblockchain for tamperproof origin and shipping supply chainauthentication of genuine medical products. One system collects resultsfor virtually any test, and storing and trending data. This ensures thatthe control systems are operating as intended. These trends providevaluable insight into the effectiveness of decontamination procedures,housekeeping practices, personnel training, and the potential formicrobial build-up during production. The present invention providesconfigurable means for electronically documenting, storing, andreporting on monitored environmental parameters. Those skilled in theart will recognize that computer programs in accordance with the presentinvention is able to reside on hardware, and with software that alreadyexists in many manufacturing facilities.

In one embodiment a product may be any tangible or intangible thing thatmay be exchanged for value, excluding the first transaction 204; inother words, the value for which the product is exchanged is unrelatedto the value of the product or service exchanged to produce the firsttransaction. The product may be a good, such as an article ofmanufacture or an item produced in agriculture. The product may bemerchandise. The product may be a consumable. The product may be a fixedasset. The product may be a circulating tool. The product may be alibrary books. The product may be capital equipment. The product may bea bill of fiat currency. The product may be commercial paper. Theproduct may be an item, such as a coupon or voucher, which may be usedas proof of payment for a service. For instance, the product may be aticket for conveyance on a transportation carrier such as a train, bus,or airline. The product may be a ticket for an entertainment event suchas a sporting event or a concert. The system can also verify the qualityof services such as legal services, financial services, consultingservices, financial planning services, repair services, cosmeticservices, healthcare services, medical services, massage services, amongothers.

In some embodiments, the first computing 201 is configured to export anaddress to a first code such as a bar code affixed to a product. Thesystem may include a code generator coupled to the first computingdevice. The code generator can be a bar code generator or a wirelesscode such as a near field communication (NFC) code. Upon receipt by abar code scanner or an NFC scanner, the product authenticity can beverified. The product may combine other anti-counterfeiting measureswith the first code such as a holographic icon or a special tamperproofcase/housing, for example.

In some embodiments, the first code is incorporated in a manufacturingcontrol system (not shown) that may rely upon codes, such as barcodes orNFC/RFID tags, to provide automatic identification of products. Torecord manufacturing transaction, the system may use a code scanner toautomatically identify the product, and then may collects additionalinformation from operators via fixed terminals (workstations), or mobilecomputers. The code used in the system may be matched to a datastructure mapping codes to data concerning products, such as a database.The data structure mapping codes to products may be the transactionregister. The data structure mapping codes to products may be separatefrom the transaction register. The party managing the manufacturingcontrol system may be the party managing the system. The party managingthe inventory control system may be a separate party.

In one embodiment, an address is a textual datum identifying the productor service serial number or ID number in a secured transaction. In someembodiments, the address is linked to a public key, the correspondingprivate key of which is owned by the recipient of the transfer ofproduct or service. For instance, the address may be the public key. Theaddress may be a representation, such as a hash, of the public key. Theaddress may be linked to the public key in the memory of a computingdevice. Where the address is linked to a public key, the transferee inthe secured transaction may record a subsequent transaction transferringsome or all of the product or service to a new address in the samemanner.

In some embodiments, the transaction register includes a data storagefacility controlled by a trusted party. The data storage facility mayinclude a database and the data storage facility may include a datastructure such as a hash table that permits rapid lookup of data storedin the data storage facility. The trusted party may be a proprietor ofthe system. The trusted party may be a third-party entity, such as anentity maintaining data centers for services such as cloud-computingservices. In other embodiments the at least one transaction register mayinclude several data storage facilities maintained by one or moretrusted parties; for instance, the at least one transaction register mayinclude several data storage facilities, to which secured transactionsare directed as set forth in further detail below. The data storagefacilities may be on the same machine. The data storage facilities maybe on the same server. The data storage facilities may be in differentservers, but in the same data center. The data storage facilities may bein various data centers. The at least one transaction register may beseveral transaction registers to which secured transactions aredirected.

The transaction register may include a distributed, consensus-basedledger and the transaction register may include a hash chain, in whichdata is added during a successive hashing process to ensurenon-repudiation. The transaction register may include a private registerrun by a predetermined group of entities. For example, the group may bethe FDA and select trusted pharmaceutical companies. In other cases, thegroup can be a number of banks working together. In yet other cases, thegroup can be a stock market such as NYSE or NASDAQ and banks/traders. Inyet other cases, the group can be members of the Army, Air Force, orNavy, or can even be all three. The advantage of having select groupmembers is that sensitive data can be contained to the group for apredetermined purpose rather than broadcasted to the world for anyone toinspect in an encrypted form.

In some embodiments, the transaction register includes a block chain. Inone embodiment, the block chain is a transaction register that recordsone or more new secured transactions in a data item known as a block.The blocks may be created in a way that places the blocks inchronological order, and links each block to a previous block in thechronological order, so that any computing device may traverse theblocks in reverse chronological order to verify any secured transactionslisted in the block chain. As a non-limiting example, each new block maybe required to contain a cryptographic hash describing the previousblock. In some embodiments, the block chain contains a single firstblock, known as a “genesis block.” As an example, the protocol mayrequire a new block to contain a cryptographic hash describing itscontents; the cryptographic hash may be required to satisfy amathematical condition, achieved by having the block contain a number,called a nonce, whose value is determined after the fact by thediscovery of the hash that satisfies the mathematical condition.Continuing the example, the protocol may be able to adjust themathematical condition so that the discovery of the hash describing ablock and satisfying the mathematical condition requires more or lesssteps, depending on the outcome of the previous hashing attempt. Themathematical condition, as an example, might be that the hash contains acertain number of leading zeros and a hashing algorithm that requiresmore steps to find a hash containing a greater number of leading zeros,and fewer steps to find a hash containing a lesser number of leadingzeros. In some embodiments, the production of a new block according tothe protocol is known as “mining.” Each block created in the block chain206 may contain a record or transaction describing one or more addressesthat receive an incentive, such as product or service, as the result ofsuccessfully mining the block 206 b.

Where two entities simultaneously create new blocks, the block chain 206may develop a fork; the protocol may determine which of the twoalternate branches in the fork is the valid new portion of the blockchain 206 by evaluating, after a certain amount of time has passed,which branch is longer. “length” may be measured according to the numberof blocks in the branch. Length may be measured according to the totalcomputational cost of producing the branch. The protocol may treat onlysecured transactions 204 contained the valid branch as valid securedtransactions. When a branch is found invalid according to this protocol,secured transactions registered in that branch may be recreated in a newblock in the valid branch; the protocol may reject “double spending”secured transactions 204 that transfer the same product or service thatanother secured transaction in the valid branch has already transferred.As a result, in some embodiments the creation of fraudulent securedtransactions requires the creation of a longer block chain branch by theentity attempting the fraudulent secured transaction than the branchbeing produced by the rest of the participants; as long as the entitycreating the fraudulent secured transaction is likely the only one withthe incentive to create the branch containing the fraudulent securedtransaction, the computational cost of the creation of that branch maybe practically infeasible, guaranteeing the validity of all securedtransactions in the block chain. In some embodiments, where thealgorithm producing the blocks involves a cryptographic hash using awell-designed hashing algorithm, attempts to avoid the computationalwork necessary to create the hashes by simply inserting a fraudulenttransaction in a previously created block may be thwarted by the“avalanche Effect,” whereby a small alteration of any data within theblock chain causes the output of the block chain to change drastically;this means that alterations are readily detectable to any person wishingto validate the hash of the attempted fraudulent block.

Additional data linked to a secured transaction may be incorporated inblocks in the block chain; for instance, data may be incorporated in oneor more fields recognized by block chain protocols that permit a personor computer forming a transaction to insert additional data in the blockchain. In some embodiments, additional data is incorporated in anunspendable transaction field. For instance, the data may beincorporated in an OP RETURN within the Bitcoin block chain. In otherembodiments, additional data is incorporated in one signature of amulti-signature transaction. In an embodiment, a multi-signaturetransaction is a secured transaction to two or more addresses. In someembodiments, the two or more addresses are hashed together to form asingle address, which is signed in the digital signature of the securedtransaction. In other embodiments, the two or more addresses areconcatenated. In some embodiments, the two or more addresses may becombined by a more complicated process, such as the creation of a merkletree as described below. In some embodiments, one or more addressesincorporated in the multi-signature transaction are typical securedaddresses, such as addresses linked to public keys as described above,while one or more additional addresses in the multi-signaturetransaction contain additional data related to the transaction; forinstance, the additional data may indicate the purpose of thetransaction, aside from an exchange of product or service, such as theitem for which the product or service was exchanged.

The transaction register may include a block chain ecosystem datastructure. In one embodiment, a block chain ecosystem data structure isa data structure that is located outside a block chain but uses theblock-chain as a basis for reliability or security by giving elements inthe block chain ecosystem data structure a secure and reproduciblerelationship with elements within the block chain. The block chainecosystem data structure may create the relationship by insertingrepresentations of elements from the block chain ecosystem datastructure into blocks in the block chain; for instance by “mergehashing,” where the elements are part of what gets hashed as block chaindata during the hashing algorithm for blocks as described above. Forexample, in some embodiments, the transaction register may include analternative chain. In one embodiment, an alternative chain is one ormore blocks (not shown) that are incorporated into a blockchain, byincluding at least one hash representing data in the alternative chainin at least one block in the blockchain that is mined; where themathematical puzzle involved in creating the new block is the productionof a new hash, the additional hash in the block may not affect thedegree of difficulty, and thus miners are not put at a computationaldisadvantage incorporating the alternative chain. The alternative chainmay be incorporated using one or more hash trees, such as one or moremerkle trees (not shown). The merkel tree may a structure containing ahash of each datum in the alternative chain as leaf notes, with eachinternal node containing a hash of all of its child nodes; thus, by theavalanche principle, the root of a merkle tree may be a hash thatrecursively represents all the data hashed in the merkle tree, and thusa set of data in the alternative chain, so that incorporation of theroot in a block in the blockchain 206 amounts to incorporation of thedata from the alternative chain that the merkle tree represents. A minermay charge a fee for incorporating the alternative chain in a block theminer mines. In an embodiment, verification of a transaction filed inthe alternative chain involves first locating the transaction in thealternative chain, verifying its digital signature, and verifying eachhash between that location and the blockchain block (for instance byverifying each hash in the merkle tree from the leaf corresponding tothe transaction to the root), verifying the hash of the blockincorporating the alternative chain, and then verifying the block up theblock chain as described above. In other embodiments, the hash tree is atiger tree. In other embodiments, the alternative chain is linked to theblock chain via a hash chain (not shown).

In some embodiments, data linking the block chain ecosystem datastructure to the block chain is incorporated in an unspendabletransaction field. For instance, the data may be incorporated in an OPRETURN within the Bitcoin block chain. In other embodiments, datalinking the block chain ecosystem data structure to the block chain isincorporated in one signature of a multi-signature transaction. Forexample, the root of a merkle tree may occupy one or more addresses thatare signed in a multi-signature transaction.

In other embodiments, elements in the block chain ecosystem datastructure are mapped to elements in the block chain by means of anagreed-upon mapping protocol. For instance, rather than inserting a hashfrom the block chain ecosystem into the block chain, an algorithm mayestablish a mathematical relationship between an element in the blockchain ecosystem data structure and an element in the block chain; themathematical relationship may be unique to the element in the blockchain ecosystem data structure. The mathematical relationship may beunique to the element in the block chain. As a non-limiting example,elements in a block chain ecosystem data structure may be mapped toparticular transactions in the block chain. Elements in the block chainecosystem data structure may be mapped to particular addresses in theblock chain. Elements in the block chain ecosystem data structure may bemapped to particular hashes corresponding to blocks. The mapping may beperformed using digital signatures; for instance, the owner of a privatekey corresponding to a public key represented by an address in the blockchain may sign an element in the block chain ecosystem with the privatekey. Each element in the block chain may be hashed, and the spacecontaining all hashes may be mapped to elements in the block chain usinga mathematical algorithm.

In other embodiments, the block chain ecosystem data structure mayincorporate a side chain. In some embodiments, a side chain is a blockchain that is operated parallel to a main block chain, usingtransactions or transaction outputs extracted from and later merged backinto the main block chain via two-way pegging. The transactions ortransaction outputs may be merged back into the main block chain byperforming a combined hash of the latest link in the side chain with thelatest link in the block chain. The combined hash may use a merkle treeas described above to reduce the computational difficulty associatedwith a combined hash of two entire blocks.

In an exemplary embodiment, a decentralized property system and methodare provided to allow ownership rights to be transferred directly fromone party to another without requiring a central authority to operate orsecure the system. Digital signatures provide a method to issue andtransfer titles within the system. Using a blockchain, distributedconsensus on who owns what are achieved. Digital assets can be uniquelyidentified by digital fingerprints using cryptographically-safe hashfunctions. Fingerprints computed from images of the asset may be used ina method to uniquely identify physical assets. In some embodiments, theunique identifier used for a physical asset may be a physical unclonablefunction. Title transfers are verifiable and create an unforgeablechain-of-ownership (“provenance”). Digital signatures and other methodslike fingerprinting provide a method to issue and transfer titles. AnAsset Record that includes specific attributes describing the propertyis created to digitally represent the asset. An Issue Record is thencreated to represent instances of the property linking to a specificAsset Record. A Transfer Record is created to record each ownershipchanges. The Transfer Records are chained together and the root ischained to the Issue Record, which is chained to the Asset Record. Eachsystem user has an account that is associated with a unique number, forexample, an Ed25519 public-key (“pubkey”) pair, or other appropriatepubkey system, which allows the user to sign Issue and Transfer Records.The owner of the is identified by their pubkey. This differs fromBitcoin, which only has one type of address and signature because thebitmark account can support multiple types of signatures, includingpost-quantum computing algorithms such as SPHINCS.

In an aspect, encoded data derived from images of local regions of aphysical object are used to securely reference (“fingerprint”) physicalassets based on unique surface-level texture patterns, rendering thephysical asset traceable as a digital item. For pets, encode picture andsound can render the asset traceable. For newborn babies, the encodedpicture, sound, and fingerprint/footprint can render the childtraceable. A cryptographically-safe hash function is used to fingerprintdigital assets. The system provides a framework for authenticatingdifferent objects or materials via extracting and matching theirfingerprints. Biometric fingerprinting processes, which use patternssuch as ridge ending and bifurcation points as the “interest points,”can be used. Stereo photometric techniques can be used forreconstructing local image regions of objects that contain the surfacetexture information. The interest points of the recovered image regionscan be detected and described by state-of-the-art computer visionalgorithms. Together with dimension reduction and hashing techniques,the approach is able to perform object verification using compact imagefeatures for virtually any object, including documents, for practicalphysical object authentication tasks.

In one implementation, a digital asset is certified via embedding itsSHA256 digest in the blockchain. This is done by generating atransaction that encodes/contains the hash via an OP_RETURN script. Thisis a bitcoin scripting opcode that marks the transaction output asprovably unspendable and allows a small amount of data to be inserted,which is the digital asset hash, plus a marker to identify all of acompany's transactions. Once the transaction is confirmed by theblockchain, the digital asset is permanently certified and proven toexist at least as early as the time the transaction was confirmed. Ifthe document hadn't existed at the time the transaction entered theblockchain, it would have been impossible to embed its digest in thetransaction (This is because of the hash function's property of beingsecond pre-image resistant). Embedding a hash and then adapting a futuredocument to match the hash is also impossible (due to the pre-imageresistance of hash functions). Hence, once the blockchain confirms thetransaction generated for the digital asset, its existence is proven,permanently, with no trust required. To manually confirm the asset'sexistence at the timestamped time, the system calculates the document'sSHA256 digest and finds a transaction in the bitcoin blockchaincontaining an OP_RETURN output with the document's hash prepended bymarker bytes. The existence of that transaction in the blockchain provesthat the digital asset (or intellectual property) existed at the timethe transaction got included into a block. The system proves dataownership without revealing actual data by publicly revealing the digestand if conflict arises the device can produce the data that generatesthe digest. The system can prove certain data exists at a certain momentof time. As we use the blockchain to store the document proof, thesystem can certify the existence of your document without the need of acentral authority. The system can check for asset integrity. The systemwill only recognize it if it is completely and fully the same document.The slightest change will be recognized as different, giving user thesecurity that certified data can't be changed.

1. A method for recording ownership in data generated by an IOT device,the method comprising: generating a digital asset by an IOT device;generating a hash representation of the asset; placing on an audit chaina transaction to an address associated with a public key correspondingto a private key; asserting the IOT device as the owner of the digitalasset with one or more marker bytes; and looking for a transactionmatching the digest and marker bytes to prove the IOT device first hadpossession of the intellectual property or digital asset. Then the IOTdevice can securely update data, or provide access rights to the digitalasset.

2. A method according to claim 1, wherein receiving further comprisesreceiving the public key.

3. A method according to claim 1, wherein receiving further comprisesreceiving a digital signature signed with the private key.

4. A method according to claim 1, wherein receiving further comprises:transmitting a challenge to the first entity, and receiving a digitalsignature signing the challenge.

5. A method according to claim 1, wherein receiving further comprises:transmitting a message encrypted using the public key; and receiving, bythe IOT device from the first entity, a decrypted version of themessage.

6. A method according to claim 1, wherein retrieving further comprisesretrieving a transaction from a second entity to the first entity.

7. A method according to claim 6, wherein authenticating furthercomprises: authenticating the second entity; and determining that the atleast one crypto-currency transaction represents an act ofauthentication of the first entity by the second entity.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein the transaction from the first secondentity to the first entity further comprises granting access rights tothe first entity.

9. A method according to claim 1, wherein authenticating furthercomprises determining a reputation based on at least one crypto-currencytransaction, a financial value of at least one crypto-currencytransaction, an identity of the first entity, or an access right of thefirst entity.

In another embodiment, a method for recording ownership rights in anasset includes: generating an asset record having a fingerprintcomprising a hash of a digital representation of the asset, a public keyof a client who generates the asset record, and a digital signaturecomprising a private key of the creating client; communicating with oneor more nodes of a peer-to-peer network to generate an entry in a publicledger by performing the steps of: generating at least one issue recordcomprising a hash of the fingerprint, the public key of the creatingclient, and an owner signature comprising a hash of the digitalsignature of the creating client with the hashed fingerprint and thepublic key of the creating client. In some embodiments, the asset isdigital property selected from the group consisting of music, video,electronic books, digital photographs, digital images, and personaldata. In another embodiment, the asset is physical property, and themethod further includes generating a digital fingerprint correspondingto the physical property using an image of a physical property.

The method may further include generating a first transfer record forrecording a transfer of the asset to a new owner, wherein the transferrecord comprises a double hash of a complete issue record for the assetand a public key of the new owner, wherein the transfer record isdigitally signed by the owner signature; using a blockchain algorithm togenerate a distributed consensus of ownership of the asset associatedwith the owner signature to validate the first transfer record; and ifthe first transfer record is validated, displaying the transfer recordon the public ledger; and if the first transfer record is not validated,rejecting the transfer record. In some embodiments, the method mayfurther include, after the step of generating the first transfer record:displaying at the user interface a payment request; and determiningwhether a user payment has been remitted before proceeding with the stepof executing. The method may further include generating a subsequenttransfer record for recording a transfer from a prior owner to asubsequent new owner, wherein the subsequent transfer record comprises adouble hash of a prior transfer record, and a public key of thesubsequent new owner, wherein the subsequent transfer record isdigitally signed by the prior owner. In some embodiments, the method mayfurther include, after the step of generating the subsequent transferrecord: displaying at the user interface a payment request; anddetermining whether a user payment has been remitted before proceedingwith the step of executing. In embodiments in which the at least oneissue record comprises multiple issue records, each issue recordincludes a different nonce and is associated with a separate blockchain.

In another aspect of the invention, a system for recording ownershiprights in an asset includes: a client computing device configured forgenerating an asset record having a fingerprint comprising a hash of adigital representation of the asset, a public key of a client whogenerates the asset record, and a digital signature comprising a privatekey of the creating client; a peer-to-peer network in communication withthe client computing device to generate an entry in a public ledger byperforming the steps of: generating at least one issue record comprisinga double hash of the fingerprint, the public key of the creating client,and an owner signature comprising a hash of the digital signature of thecreating client with the double hashed fingerprint and the public key ofthe creating client; and displaying the at least one issue record on thepublic ledger. The asset may be digital property selected from the groupconsisting of music, video, electronic books, digital photographs,digital images, and personal data. Alternatively, the asset may bephysical property, where the client computing device is further incommunication with a photometric stereo device configured for generatinga digital fingerprint corresponding to the physical property using alocal image of a region of interest on a surface of the physicalproperty. The photometric stereo device is configured for identifyinglocal interest points within the photometric stereo image using akeypoint detector; and encoding the local interest points as a binarystring using a binary descriptor; wherein the binary string comprisesthe digital representation of the asset.

In one embodiment, the blockchain address is used to replace thedatabases holding registration information for trademarks, patents,designs and copyright. By registering IP rights on a distributed ledger,the IP provides smart intellectual property rights, providing a robustand trustworthy proof of record. Further the claims of the IP areexpressed as contract conditions that allow automatic attachment toinfringing products or articles. For trademark, linked to and connectedto actual use of products, so that (first) use in trade/commercerequirements could be updated immediately. This in turn would affect howtrademarks could be cleared for registration and use since actual useinformation could—theoretically and if the law was changed accordinglyto provide for this possibility—be added to the registration details ofa trade mark on the official register. This would mean that evidence andinformation of actual use of a trade mark in trade, as well as thefrequency of such use could be readily shared and be available on theofficial trade mark register. The official register could also reflectthe state of the market, which is relevant when it comes to assessingthe infringement risk in many jurisdictions.

If all transactions relating to a product bearing a particular trademark are entered on the blockchain, then that use of the trade mark onthe blockchain provides evidence of use of the trade mark in trade. Thesystem simplifies the process of proving evidence of use of a trade markin trade and/or or first use in commerce, depending on the jurisdiction,as well as providing other evidence at an IP office or court, forexample evidence of acquired distinctiveness or secondary meaning.Further, whenever use of a trade mark in trade/commerce can bereconciled with information on a blockchain ledger then this couldenable evidence of such use to be notified to the relevant IP office orauthority virtually immediately on the occurrence of a verified event ofsuch use. This would substantially lower the burden of collectingrelevant evidence for rights holders and at the same would simplify theprocess at respective IP Office.

In one embodiments, private blockchains which are tightly controlled,with rights to modify and/or read the blockchain restricted to a smallnumber of users, can be used for certification and/or collectivetrademarks, which the added bonus that fake certificates could almostimmediately be identified as such. Evidence of creatorship provided byblockchain can be done: if an original design document and details ofthe designer are uploaded to a blockchain, this creates a time-stampedrecord and good evidence to prove these matters. Locking evidence oftheir use and conception on a blockchain could make their enforcementmuch easier and at the same time also act as a deterrent to potentialinfringers. Provenance authentication Blockchain also allows you torecord objectively verifiable details about when and where products aremade and about the people that made them. The information is used forbrand protection and information, including trade mark registrationdetails, legal information, assignment and chain of title informationand/or evidence of (first) use in trade or commerce. Brand owners usethis function to record where goods are placed on the market—allowingthem to distinguish grey goods in cases of parallel imports and identifywhere they left the supply chain. In the same way, blockchain could beused to monitor and control leaks from selective distribution networksand so assist in enforcing such agreements. This capability will renderthe technology of interest to other industries, such as thepharmaceutical industry. The system can link products to blockchainhowever (rather than to URLs as is common in QR Code marketing) is theimmutable nature of the information which appears on the blockchain.This makes it an attractive and safe place for a brand to imprint uponits products with brand messages, product and potentially also legalinformation: blockchain can be used for much more than marketing.

The system can use the blockchain address as a way of securingintellectual property and digital creative works such as images ormusic. The blockchain ledger is intended to be a secure and reliable wayof proving a work's attribution and provenance. And the programmablenature of the digital block makes it possible to enforce smart contractbased usage rights.

In travel and hospitality as well as retail, blockchain is used inloyalty-points programs, including more advantageous accountingtreatment of the liabilities created by the accrual of points, real-timeupdating of points balances, and better management of points acrossfranchised operations due to the fact that a shared distributed ledgercan simplify the settlement process.

The blockchain can be used to secure access to and from the IOT devicein an embodiment. Access right is the right of an entity to use the IOTdevice or network of computing devices for at least one purpose. Forinstance, an access right may permit an IOT device possessing theappropriate authentication credentials to operate another IOT device ora computer after “logging on” to the computer. An access right maypermit the IOT device to perform some functions, while forbidding theperformance of other instructions. The computing device may beconfigured to ignore or refuse commands from an IOT device that does nothave a user account with the access right to instruct the IOT device toexecute those commands. In some embodiments, the access right gives theIOT device with the ability to access a particular network or aparticular network access point. The access right may affect the abilityto access one or more master nodes of a network. The access right mayaffect the ability to access or read messages directed to particularuser account within a messaging service; for instance, the access rightmay control whether a particular IOT device can read a particular emailaccount, an instant message, a text message, or a voice over internetprotocol stream. The access right may give the IOT device the ability todecrypt an encrypted message; in some embodiments, where the accessright is tied to the possession of a particular private key, anencrypted message or stream may be encrypted using the correspondingpublic key. The access right may give a device the ability to unlock theuse of an application or suite of applications on a computing device;for instance, the device may be able to access communication sitesconcerning classes. The user may be able to access music on a cloudservice or on a local computing device. The device may be able to accessstreaming media over a network if in possession of the access right. Theaccess right may give the device the ability to lock out or allow entryto certain people peer-to-peer (P2P) network and to those files. Theaccess right may control the ability of a user or IOT device to accessan application programming interface (API). The access right may controlaccess to a particular file or set of files; for instance, the accessright may lock access to confidential information, or information thatcould be used for identity theft, such as passport, social security,birth certificate data, permit data, data concerning licenses, dataconcerning escrowed property, legal documents such as wills, settlementsor divorce decrees, or electronic access to physically locked devicessuch as safe-deposit boxes or the doors to vehicles or buildings.

In one implementation, a processor coupled to the body and associatedwith a blockchain with a blockchain address, the processor accessing adigital key in trusted memory to securely sign a blockchain transactionfor a contract stored on a decentralized ledger, wherein the processorto stores events on the blockchain relating to identity. The identity isused for accessing a computer, building or equipment.

In another implementation, a method for authentication by an IOT device,the method comprising: receiving, by the IOT device, from a first entitya private key; retrieving from an audit chain a transaction to anaddress associated with a public key corresponding to the private key;and authenticating the first entity. Then the IOT device can securelyupdate with code from the first entity, or receive data from the firstentity.

FIG. 14A shows an exemplary smart contract agent running in electronicagents that carry out transactions. The same agent is also judge agent,arbitrator agent, and jury agents who have to resolve machine to machinecontractual disputes. Agent technology is used for developing suchsystems that situates and operates in a dynamic and heterogeneousenvironment. An agent is an autonomous software entity that is situatedin some environment where it can monitor and response to changesproactively or reactively by itself or through communication with otheragents to persistently achieve certain goal/task on behalf of user orother agents. These agents can form contract with other agents and usethe smart contract framework discussed above for ensuring certainty inexecuting their tasks.

Expert (knowledge) systems contain two basic elements: inference engineand knowledge base. The knowledge base holds all information related tothe tasks at hand: the rules and the data on which they will be applied.The inference engine is a mechanism that can operate the informationcontained in the knowledge base. In a rule-based system, the knowledgebase is divided into a set of rules and working memory (or database).Just like an IF-THEN sentence, each rule has two parts: a premise and aconclusion. A rule is said to be fired when the inference engine findsthe premise is stored as TRUE in working memory (the knowledge base) andit incorporates the conclusion of the rule to the working memory(knowledge base) too. Working memory is the database contained in theknowledge base. This holds all facts that describe the currentsituation. Generally, the expert system will start with very few facts.These will expand as the system learns more about the situation at hand,and as far as some rules are executed. The inference engine or ruleinterpreter has two tasks. First, it examines facts in working memoryand rules in the rule base, and adds new facts to the database (memory)when possible. That is, it fires rules. Second, it determines in whatorder rules are scanned and fired. The inference engine can determinethe order in which rules should be fired by different methods such asforward chaining, backward chaining, breadth- or depth-wise scantechniques, etc. Applications that use forward chaining, such as processcontrol, are called data-driven. Applications that use backward chainingare called goal-driven. Forward chaining systems are typically usedwhere relevant facts are contained in small sets and where many factslead to few conclusions. A forward chaining system must have all itsdata at the start, rather than asking the user for information as itgoes. Backward chaining should be used for applications having a largeset of facts, where one fact can lead to many conclusions. Abackward-chaining system will ask for more information if needed toestablish a goal.

In addition to expert systems, a pattern recognizer called neuralnetworks can be used. Neural networks attempt to mimic the human brainby “learning” different sets of stimulus patterns (such as medicalsymptoms) and their associated responses (diagnoses). Incomplete and/oroverlapping sets of stimuli can be presented to the neural network,which can then return several responses matching those stimuli usingprobability weightings to produce an ordered list of responses. Eachneural network problem session contains a set of defined stimuli, a setof defined responses, and a set of relationships between specific groupsof stimuli and the response that each group is to produce. The set ofstimuli (responses) is represented by a group of stimulus (response)nodes at what is called the “input (output) layer.” Then, there isusually one or more intermediate layers, containing nodes that are eachlinked to every input layer node and every output layer node in thenetwork. The number of the middle layer nodes is usually equal to theaverage of the number of input and output nodes. Probability values(weights) are then associated with each of these connections and areconstantly being updated as the network “learns” new information.

Further, when a planning agent works in a complex, real-world domain, itis unable to plan for and store all possible contingencies and problemsituations ahead of time. The agent needs to be able to fall back on anability to construct plans at run time under time constraints. Thus, asystem for performing dynamic planning at run time is needed.

Turning now to FIG. 14A, one smart assistant agent with smartcontracting capability is illustrated in more detail. The agent issoftware based agent. In FIG. 14A, one or more sensors 180 receivesincoming information. The sensors 180 in turn transfer the data to anenactor 181. The enactor 181 in turn makes a decision based on itscurrent situational data, as captured by sensors 180. The enactor 181then drives an actuator 182. In addition to receiving data from thesensor 180, the enactor 181 also receives instruction from apredictor/goal generator 184, which in turn is connected to a generalknowledge warehouse 183. The external data sensed by the sensor 180 isalso delivered to both the warehouse 183 and the predictor/goalgenerator 184. Additionally, both the warehouse 183 and thepredictor/goal generator 184 are connected to a plurality of specialistknowledge modules, including a scheduler 185, an information locator186, a communicator 187, a form filler 188, a trainer 188, a legalexpert 190, a medical expert 191 and additional experts 192. Theknowledge warehouse 183 has a representation for the user's world,including the environment, the kind of relations the user has, hisinterests, his past history with respect to the retrieved documents,among others. Additionally, the knowledge warehouse 183 stores datarelating to the external world in a direct or indirect manner to enableto obtain what the assistant needs or who can help the electronicassistant. Further, the knowledge warehouse 183 is aware of availablespecialist knowledge modules and their capabilities since it coordinatesa number of specialist modules and knows what tasks they can accomplish,what resources they need and their availability. The smart electronic oron-line assistant agent can issue smart contracts detailed above tooptimize cost or operational efficiency on behalf of its master whichcan be another electronic smart agent or a human master.

In FIG. 14A, the protocol is processed by an expert system or a computersystem that emulates the decision-making ability of a human judge,arbitrator or legal expert. Expert systems are designed to solve complexproblems by reasoning about knowledge, represented mainly as if-thenrules rather than through conventional procedural code in oneimplementation. The expert system is divided into two subsystems: theinference engine and the knowledge base. The knowledge base representsfacts and rules. The inference engine applies the rules to the knownfacts to deduce new facts. The implementation of FIG. 14A has aplurality of knowledge modules to apply contract laws and run inferenceson the facts. The expert system of FIG. 14A can have the followingmodules to honor smart contracts:

-   -   I. Formation of Contracts: Contract is an agreement that is        legally enforceable.    -   A. Offer:    -   1. General test: An offer is a manifestation of an intention to        contract. Absent hacking or malware in an Offeror machine, the        Offeree (recipient) machine would believe that its answer or        assent creates a contract.    -   2. Specific Pattern Handling    -   a) Content:    -   (1) Generally, offer is not required to contain all material        terms as long as they can be looked up or verified in a central        repository, however, some terms are necessary.    -   (2) Sale of real estate: requires price and description.    -   (3) Sale of goods: no price requirement.    -   (4) Vague or ambiguous material terms are not an offer    -   (5) Production contract/output contract/requirements contract: A        contract for the sale of goods can state the quantity of goods        to be delivered under the contract in terms of the buyer's        requirements or Seller's output.    -   (6) An advertisement can be an offer if it is specific as to        quantity and indicates who can accept.    -   (7) Termination of Offers (4 methods) an offer cannot be        accepted if it has terminated.    -   (a) Lapse of Time: Stated expiration date or reasonable time (30        days is usually the reasonable time).    -   (b) Revocation (words or conduct of Offeror machine):    -   (i) When:    -   (a) Revocation of an offer sent through SMS, email, chat        message, or mail is not effective until received.    -   (b) An offer cannot be revoked after it has been accepted.    -   (c) Generally offers can be freely revoked by the Offeror        machine except when the Offeror machine promised to keep the        offer open (option) and this promise is supported by        consideration.    -   (d) An offer cannot be revoked for up to 3 months if    -   (i) Contract is for sale of goods    -   (ii) A confirmation specifically to keep the offer open for 3        months is the ceiling even if the written contract says 6        months, and    -   (iii) Party is a merchant.    -   (e) Merchant: An agent/computer for an entity who deals in the        type of goods involved in a transaction or holds themselves out        as having special knowledge in the goods.    -   (i) An offer cannot be revoked if there has been a detrimental        reliance by the Offeree machine that is reasonably foreseeable.    -   (ii) The start of performance pursuant to an offer to enter into        a unilateral contract makes that offer irrevocable for a        reasonable time to complete performance.    -   (f) Unilateral: (e.g. Offeror machine offers Purchaser $1,000 if        Purchaser modifies an object in virtual or augmented reality,        Purchaser starts the work. Offeror machine cannot revoke.)    -   (g) Performance, not more preparation: (e.g. If Purchaser only        orders codes for modifying the virtual object and has not        started, then Offeror machine can still revoke.)    -   (C) Rejection (words conduct of the Offeree machine):    -   (i) Counteroffer: Counteroffer terminates the offer and becomes        a new offer.    -   (ii) Conditional acceptance: A conditional acceptance terminates        the offer and becomes a new offer.    -   (iii) Indirect Rejection: Additional terms    -   (iv) Alternative module 1: Mirror image rule, an “acceptance”        that adds new terms is treated like a counteroffer rather than        an acceptance.    -   (v) Alternative module 2: Still acceptance with seasonal        expression of acceptance. A fact pattern in which there is 1) an        offer to sell goods and 2) a response with additional terms        raises 2 separate analysis modules:        -   (a) Is there a contract: Generally yes, because a response            to offer that adds new terms is generally treated as an            acceptance with a “seasonal expression of acceptance”        -   (b) Is the additional term a part of the contract:        -   (c) If both machines are agents for merchants, the            additional term is a part of the contract except 1) the            additional term is not a part of the contract if he            materially changes the offer or 2) if Offeror machine            objects to the change.        -   (d) If one or both machines are not agent for merchant, the            additional term is merely a proposal that is to be            separately accepted or rejected.

B. Acceptance of an Offer

-   -   1. An offer can be accepted only by    -   a) A recipient computer who knows about the offer by direct        communication, message board or a search of the Internet    -   b) Who is the recipient to whom offer was made? Offers cannot be        assigned; options can be assigned.    -   2. Methods of Accepting an Offer    -   a) Offeree machine starts to perform: Start of performance is        acceptance of an offer to enter into a bilateral contract but is        not acceptance of an offer to enter into a unilateral contract.        -   (1) Bilateral: Offer is open as method of acceptance so            start of performance is acceptance.        -   (2) Unilateral: Offers require performance for acceptance so            that start of performance is not acceptance; completion of            performance is required.            -   The start of performance pursuant to an offer to enter                into a unilateral contract makes that offer irrevocable                for a reasonable time to complete performance. Offeror                machine is locked, but Offeree machine is not.    -   b) Offeree machine promises to perform    -   c) Offeree machine sends acceptance through the mails:    -   (1) Generally, if an offer is “invited” to accept by texting,        SMS, email, chat communication, or printed/mailed, acceptance is        Effective when posted (emailbox rule)    -   (2) Except:    -   (a) Offer otherwise provides    -   (b) Rejection, then acceptance, then no emailbox rule, so        whichever arrives first controls.    -   (C) Option deadlines: Mailbox rule is inapplicable: When        deadline is specified in an option (promise to keep open with        consideration), acceptance must be received by that date, no        emailbox rule.    -   (3) If the seller of goods sends the “wrong goods”:    -   (a) Generally, this will amount to acceptance and breach    -   (b) Except: When goods come with Accommodation (letter with        explanation): Counteroffer and no breach    -   (4) If Offeree machine is silent: Silence is not acceptance        except if offer agrees that silence is acceptance (e.g. if you        do not hear from me by Friday, I accept).    -   C. Consideration or a Consideration Substitute    -   a) Performance; e.g. doing something not obligated to do    -   b) Forbearance; e.g. not doing something entitled to do    -   c) Promise to perform: Has to be in good faith    -   d) Promise to forbear: Has to be in good faith    -   2. Adequacy of consideration: Look for consideration in        modification.    -   a) Mutuality of obligation: Unless both parties to a contract        are bound to perform, neither party is bound.    -   b) Implied promises: Promises made without words such as by        boarding a bus or ordering a meal, the person impliedly promises        to pay    -   c) Disproportionate exchanges: Give up something of nothing is        not a valid consideration    -   3. Partial payment as consideration for promise to give balance        of debt: Not yet due or disputed: Agree to take payment when it        is not yet due, or when he has disputed, may constitute a        consideration for release.    -   D. Defenses:    -   1. Capacity to contract: hacked machine or unknown software bug        leading to abnormal contract terms    -   a) Consequences of incapacity    -   (1) Right to disaffirm by computer without capacity    -   (2) Implied affirmation makes the contract enforceable against        the machine benefiting from the contract obligations even if        machine was incapacitated    -   (3) Liability for necessity—if machine needed for survival        (source of energy, shelter from weather, for example)    -   2. Statute of Frauds (SOF) check for        -   (a) A service contract not capable of being performed within            one year from the time of contracting (comes up in 5 fact            patterns)            -   (i) Time of performance (date of start: Assume can be                done in 1 day) is more than one year from the date of                contracting: SOF applies since performance cannot be                finished in 1 year            -   (ii) Employment for one year, but start after date of                contracting: SOF applies        -   (b) Transfer of an interest in real estate for a term of            more than 1 year            -   (i) Includes: Permanent (or anything greater than 1                year) sales of land, easements, and leases.    -   b) If SOF is applied, is it satisfied?    -   (1) “Satisfied”, here, means there is no defense on the basis of        the SOF, because the agreement is enforceable on the following        satisfaction of the SOF: E.g. via performance or a writing in        the following circumstances    -   (2) 3 Methods for satisfying the SOF (eliminating SOF defenses):        -   (a) Performance: Rules vary depending on the type of            contract            -   (i) Services contracts                -   (a) Full performance by either party satisfies the                    SOF                -   (b) Part performance does not satisfy the SOF (there                    still exists a SOF defense against enforcing the                    contract).            -   (ii) Sales of Ordinary Goods: Part performance of a                contract for sale of goods satisfies the SOF, but only                as to the extent of the part performance (can sue for                payment for what was actually delivered, but not on the                undelivered remainder of the contract—still a SOF                defense to that).            -   (iii) Sales of Specialized Goods: As an exception to the                above rule, if the contract is for goods that are                “specially manufactured” then the SOF is satisfied as                soon as the seller makes a “substantial beginning” in                making or obtaining the goods            -   (iv) Real Estate Contacts: Need 2 out of following 3 to                satisfy the SOF on performance grounds (completion of                just 1 is not enough: Still a defense on SOF grounds):                -   (a) Payment of (at least part) of purchase price                -   (b) Transfer of possession                -   (c) Making improvements to the land        -   (b) A Written Instrument (e.g. a writing) that meets the            following will satisfy the SOF (will eliminate any SOF            defense):    -   (i) For any contract other than for UCC2 goods    -   (a) Look to the writing(s) and see if all the material terms are        identified:    -   (i) Who are the parties to be bound    -   (ii) What is the extent of their obligation    -   (b) The party to be charged (the D) signed the writing even if        the other party (P) did not sign    -   (ii) For a UCC2 2 (goods) contract    -   (a) Writing must contain the quantity term    -   (b) Party to be charged (D) must have signed the writing    -   (i) Exception: If both parties are merchants, and one receives a        signed writing (by the P) with a quantity term that claims there        is a contract, the party to be charged must respond within IO        days of receipt: If not, the SOF defense for the D will be lost        (contract enforceable)    -   (c) Judicial Admission of Sale of Goods Agreement: This is        essentially an admission (by the party to be charged) that there        was an agreement: Comes through pleadings, discovery    -   3. SOF related Issue    -   a) Authorization to enter into contract for someone else: When        does a person need a written authorization in order to execute a        contract for someone else? The authorization must be in writing        if the contract to be signed is within the SOF. E.g. the        authorization must be of “equal dignity”.    -   b) Contract Modification: When does a modification of a contract        have to be in writing? If the contract, with the modification,        is within the SOF, the modification must be in writing.    -   c) Contract Provisions: Under Common Law, contract provisions        requiring that all modifications be in writing are ignored;        under the UCC2, such provisions control unless waived.    -   E. Illegality, Misrepresentation, Duress    -   1. Illegal Subject Matter/Illegal Purpose: If the subject matter        is illegal, the agreement is void. If the subject matter is        legal but the purpose is illegal, the agreement is enforceable        only by the person who did not know of the illegal purpose.    -   2. Misrepresentation:    -   a) Misrepresentation is a false assertion of fact, or        concealment of facts.    -   b) Misrepresentation as to terms of contract is voidable. (A        says house does not have termites when it does);        Misrepresentation as to nature of contract is void (A tells B        this is a lease agreement when it is a purchase agreement: Void)    -   c) Common Issues:    -   (1) Fraudulent or Material: Seller truly believes house has no        termites, then he has just material but not fraudulent.    -   (2) Reliance: Relied on inspector and not the seller's        statement, then seller does not have misrepresentation.    -   (3) Duress: Elements include one party (D) with improper threat        and one party (P) with no reasonable alternative (in a        vulnerable situation), and the 2 parties entered into an        agreement. Then he has a defense to contract.    -   3. Unconscionability:    -   a) This doctrine, originally only applicable to sales of goods        but now a part of contracts law generally empowers a court to        refuse to enforce all or part of an agreement.    -   b) The 2 basic test, unfair surprise and oppressive terms, are        tested as of the time the agreement was made (if he was fair at        the time he has made, even if he becomes unfair later, he has        deemed fair) by the court.    -   4. Ambiguity: There will be no contract if    -   a) Parties use a material term that is open to at least 2        reasonable interpretations, and    -   b) Each party attaches different meaning to the term, and    -   c) Neither party knows, or has reason to know meaning attached        by other. (If one party knows, then there is a contract with the        interpretation of the ignorant party.)    -   5. Mistake of Fact:        -   a) Mutual mistakes of material fact; no contract if        -   (1) Both parties mistaken        -   (2) And basic assumption of fact materially affects the            agreed exchange (e.g. as to what he is =unenforceable; as to            what he has worth=enforceable)        -   (3) No mistake of fact if both parties assumed the risk        -   b) Unilateral Mistake of Material Fact:        -   (1) Generally, courts have been reluctant to allow a party            to avoid a contract for a mistake made by only one party        -   (2) Except, when there is        -   (a) Palpable mistakes: If the other party knows or should            have known the mistake, courts grant relief to the            mistakenparty    -   (b) Mistakes discovered before significant reliance by the        other. (can get out of contract)    -   II. Terms of Contract (Parol Evidence Rule and Interpretation)    -   A. Parol Evidence Rule:    -   1. General Rules:    -   a) Written contract as the source of contract terms has an        exclusionary effect on earlier or contemporaneous agreements as        a possible source of terms of the contract.    -   b) Written agreement that court finds is the final agreement,        oral statement made at the time the contract was signed, or        earlier (not later) oral or written statements by the parties to        the contract trigger the Parol evidence rule.    -   2. Terms:    -   a) Partial integration: Written and final, but not complete    -   b) Complete integration: Written and final and complete    -   c) Merger clause: Contract clause such as “This is the complete        and final agreement”    -   3. Interpretation:    -   a) Despite Parol Evidence Rule, earlier agreements can be        considered to resolve ambiguities in the written contract.    -   b) The Parol evidence rule prevents a court from considering        earlier agreements as a source of consistent, additional terms        unless the court finds that the written agreement was only a        partial integration.    -   c) Even if the writing is a complete integration, a court can        still consider evidence of earlier agreements for terms that        would “naturally and normally” be in a separate agreement. (sale        of goods contract mentioning ads, because ads are usually in a        separate contract)    -   d) Regardless of whether the writing is a complete or partial        integration, the Parol evidence rule prevents a court from        considering earlier agreements as a source of terms that are        inconsistent with the terms in the written contract. A court,        may, however, consider evidence of such terms for the limited        purpose of determining whether there was a mistake in        integration, e.g. a mistake in reducing the agreement to        writing.    -   B. Other Sources of Terms    -   1. Other than words of parties, other sources of contract terms        include:    -   a) Course of performance: Same people, same contract (in the        beginning of the contract did something, can use that to        establish same performance in the end should not be complained.)    -   b) Course of dealing: Same people, different contract (dealt in        another contract before)    -   c) Custom and usage: What is accepted in the industry? E.g. Time        is ordinarily not of the essence in a land-sale contract, so        delay in delivery is not breach    -   C. UCC2 Terms Interpretation:    -   1. Delivery Obligations of Seller of Goods:    -   a) Absent an agreement as to place of delivery then the place of        delivery is the seller's place of business unless both parties        know that the goods are somewhere else in which case that place        is the place of delivery.    -   b) If an agreement as to place of delivery is there, then the        question is what does the seller have to do to complete its        delivery obligation?        -   (1) Shipment contract:        -   (a) FOB (free on board city) FOB followed by city where the            seller is means shipment contract.        -   (b) Seller completes its delivery obligation when he            -   (i) Gets the good to a common carrier            -   (ii) Makes reasonable arrangement for delivery            -   (iii) Notifies the buyer        -   (2) Destination contract            -   (a) FOB followed by city where the buyer is means                destination contract.            -   (b) Seller does not complete its delivery until the                goods arrive where the buyer is.    -   2. Risk of loss    -   a) Issues arise when:        -   (1) After contract has been formed, but before the buyer            receives the goods        -   (2) The goods are damaged or destroyed and        -   (3) Neither the buyer nor the seller is to blame    -   b) 4 ROL rules:        -   (1) Agreement: Agreement of the parties controls.        -   (2) Breach: Breaching party is liable for any uninsured loss            even though breach is unrelated to problem.        -   (3) Delivery by common carrier (not seller): Risk of loss            shifts from seller to buyer at the time that the seller            completes its delivery obligations.        -   (4) No agreement, no breach, no delivery by a carrier            -   (a) Key Issue: Is seller (not buyer) a merchant.        -   (i) Seller-Merchant: ROL shifts on buyer's receipt of the            goods.        -   (ii) Non-Merchant-Seller: ROL shifts to buyer when he            tenders the goods (makes the goods available).    -   c) Warranties of Quality: Watch for Parol evidence issues in        warranty questions.    -   (1) Express:        -   (a) Words: Looks for words that promise, describe or state            facts (not simply puffing, like opinions) (e.g. machine is            made of steel vs. machine is well-made)        -   (b) Samples or models: Use of sample or model creates a            warranty that the goods the buyer receives will be like the            sample or model.    -   (2) Implied warranty of merchantability: When buying from a        merchant, a term is automatically added to the contract by        operation of law: That the goods are fit for the ordinary        purpose for which such goods are used.        -   (a) Triggering fact: Seller is a merchant who deals in goods            of that kind.        -   (b) Warranty: Goods are fit for ordinary purposes.    -   d) Implied warranty of fitness:    -   (1) Triggering fact: Buyer has particular purpose; buyer is        relying on seller to select suitable goods, seller has reason to        know of purpose and reliance.    -   (2) Warrant: Goods fit for particular purpose.    -   e) Contractual Limitations on Warranty Liability    -   (1) Disclaimer: May eliminate implied warranties (so if sold        sample, signed contract with disclaimer, the warranties came        with sample cannot be disclaimed)    -   (a) Express warranties: Cannot be disclaimed    -   (b) Implied warranties of merchantability and fitness:    -   (i) “as is” or “with all faults” or    -   (ii) Conspicuous language of disclaimer, mentioning        “merchantability”    -   (2) Limitation of remedies: (e.g. warranty liability shall be        limited to) does not eliminate warranty, simply limits or sets        recovery for any breach of warranty: Possible to limit remedies        even for express warranties.    -   (a) Test: Generally, the limit cannot be unconscionable (court        standard)    -   (b) Prima facie unconscionable: If breach of warranty on        consumer goods causes personal injury.    -   III. Conditions and Performance    -   A. Conditions of Performance:    -   1. A condition is a part of the contract, agreed to by both        parties. A conditional acceptance is a part of the response to        the offer, agreed to only by the Offeree machine.    -   2. Vocabulary of performance conditions    -   a) True condition: An event beyond the influence of either of        the parties to the contract that affects the duty to perform.        Condition coupled with a covenant: An event that is to some        extent within the influence of one of the parties to the        contract that affects the duty to perform.    -   b) Condition Precedent: Must occur precedes performance.        Condition Subsequent: Must not occur during performance.    -   c) Express Condition: Created by language of contract. (words        like “if”, “provided that”, “so long as”, “subject to”    -   d) Constructive Condition: Created by operation of law, are        keyed to order of performance.    -   3. What is the standard for satisfying a condition?    -   a) Express conditions: Strict compliance with express        conditions.    -   b) Constructive Conditions: Substantial performance standard.    -   (1) Substantial performance standard example: Writing says “all        pipes must be gold”, but Seller installs silver pipe. Although        the words “must be” are included in writing, they are no magic        words for express condition. Therefore, upon installation, it is        substantial performance. For constructive conditions, Buyer will        pay the damages.    -   (2) Divisible contract and the substantial performance rule: If        the contract itself divides the performance of each party into        the same number of parts with each part performance by one party        serving as consideration for the corresponding part performance        by the other, then the contract is a divisible contract and the        substantial performance test is applied to each divisible part        of the contract.    -   4. How can an express condition be excused? Identify 1) who        benefits from the condition? 2) Statement is made by the person        giving up the benefit.        -   a) Estoppel or waiver:            -   (1) Estoppel is based on a statement by the person                protected by the condition before the conditioning event                was to occur and requires a change of position.            -   (2) Waiver: Based on a statement by the person protected                by the condition after the conditioning event was to                occur and does not require a change of position.        -   b) Failure to cooperate under a condition coupled with a            covenant: (S contracts to sell his house to B for $10;            contract provides that the sale needs B to have mortgage, B            made no effort to obtain a mortgage. S can sue B if H            refuses to buy the house)    -   B. Sale of Goods Performance Concept    -   1. Perfect tender: Generally, the seller is obligated to deliver        perfect goods.    -   2. Cure: Seller who fails to make a perfect tender will be given        a “second chance”, an option of curing, when        -   a) Time for performance has not yet expired        -   b) Time for performance has expired        -   c) Rejection of the goods: Rejection of the goods must occur            before acceptance of the goods (no contract).    -   If the goods are less than perfect, the buyer has the option to        reject unless it is an installment sales contract.        -   d) Installment sales of contract: An installment sales            contract requires or authorizes 1) delivery in separate lots            2) to be separately accepted; generally, the buyer has the            right to reject an installment only where there is a            substantial impairment in that installment that cannot be            cured.        -   e) Acceptance of the goods:            -   (1) 3 scenarios            -   (a) Express of acceptance is acceptance            -   (b) Payment without inspection is not acceptance            -   (c) Implied acceptance-retention after inspection                without objection. (30 days or more usually is the magic                number that if the buyer kept the good without                objection)            -   (2) Effect of acceptance: If the buyer accepts the                goods, he cannot later reject them.        -   f) Revocation of acceptance of the goods: Generally, if a            buyer accepts the goods, buyer cannot later reject them. In            limited circumstances, a buyer can effect a cancellation of            the contract by revoking his acceptance of the goods.    -   (1) Nonconformity substantially impairs the value of the goods,        and    -   (2) Excusable ignorance of grounds for revocation or reasonable        reliance on seller's assurance of satisfaction, and    -   (3) Revocation within a reasonable time after discovery of        nonconformity.        -   g) Other Requirements and Consequence of rejection of the            goods and revocation of acceptance of the goods:    -   (1) Requirements    -   (a) Reasonably notify seller    -   (b) Hold the goods for seller    -   (c) Follow reasonable seller instructions    -   (2) Consequences    -   (a) Goods back to seller    -   (b) No buyer payment obligation    -   h) Buyer's payment obligation:    -   (1) Generally, buyer needs to pay cash unless otherwise agreed    -   (2) Buyer can pay by check and    -   (3) Seller does not have to take the check but that gives the        buyer an additional reasonable time.    -   IV. Excuse of Nonperformance (Discharge of Contractual Duties)    -   A. Failure of Condition: If a party's duty to perform is        conditional, failure of the condition excuses the duty to        perform.    -   B. Other Party's Breach:    -   1. Excuse in sales of goods: If the tender is less than perfect,        the buyer can reject the goods and withhold payment-the buyer is        excused from paying.    -   2. Generally, only substantial performance. If one party to a        contract substantially performs, the other party is required to        perform. A minor breach, however, will not excuse performance by        the other party. Therefore, only material breach is an excuse        for the other party.    -   3. Excuse by anticipatory repudiation or inability to perform:    -   a) Anticipatory Repudiation (AR) is a statement that 1) the        repudiating party will not perform 2) made prior to the time        that performance was due. AR by one party excuses the other        party's duty to perform.    -   b) It also generally gives rise to an immediate claim for        damages for breach.    -   (1) AR can be reversed or retracted so long as there has not        been a material change in position by the other party.    -   (2) If the repudiation is timely retracted, the duty to perform        is reimposed but performance can be delayed until adequate        assurance is provided.    -   4. Excuse by Reason of a Later contract:    -   a) Rescission (cancellation) the key is whether performance is        still remaining from each of the contract parties. (Usually too        late if one party has already completed the work)    -   b) Accord and Satisfaction:    -   (1) Accord is an agreement by the parties to an already existing        contract that the same parties will do something different that        will extinguish or “satisfy” that existing obligation    -   (2) Satisfaction is performance of the accord.    -   (3) Effect of Accord and Satisfaction: The accord suspends legal        enforcement of the original obligation so to provide time to        perform the accord.    -   (4) Effect of no satisfaction: If the accord is not performed,        then the other party can sue on either the original obligation        or the accord.    -   c) Novation:    -   (1) Novation is an agreement between both parties to an existing        contract to the substitution of a new party. E.g. same        performance, different parties.    -   (2) Novation excuses the contracted for performance of the party        who is substituted for or replaced.    -   (3) Novation requires the agreement of both parties to the        original contract and excuses the person replaced from any        liability for nonperformance. Delegation does not require the        agreement of both parties and does not excuse.    -   5. Excuse of performance by reason of a later, unforeseen event    -   a) Performance/Contractual duties (other than a contractual duty        to pay money) can be excused under        impossibility/impracticability or frustration of purpose.    -   (1) Something that happens after contract formation but before        the completion of contract performance.    -   (2) That was unforeseen    -   (3) That makes performance impossible or commercially        impracticable or frustrates the purpose of the performance.    -   V. Remedies    -   A. Punitive Damages: Punitive damages are not generally        recoverable for breach of contract.    -   B. Liquidated Damages:    -   1. Contract can stipulate damages or method of fixing damages. A        contract cannot provide for penalty.    -   2. 2 general tests for determining whether a contract provision        is a valid liquidated damages clause or an invalid penalty        provision    -   a) At time of contract, the amount of possible damages from any        later breach of contract is difficult to determine and    -   b) At time of contract, the contract provision is a reasonable        forecast of possible damages.    -   C. Damages Rules for Ordinary Contracts    -   1. Generally, the injured party is entitled to recover an amount        that would put him in as good a position as if the contract had        been performed.    -   2. Additions and Limitations:    -   a) Plus foreseeable consequential damages: The injured party can        also recover for consequential or special damages that were in        reasonable contemplation of both parties at the time of the        contract.    -   b) Plus incidental damages: The injured party can also recover        costs he incurs in dealing with the breach.    -   c) Minus avoidable damages: No recovery for loss that can have        been avoided by appropriate steps. Burden of Proof of avoid        ability is on the defendant.    -   D. Damages Rules for Sales of Goods:    -   1. When Seller breaches, and buyer keeps the goods: Buyer gets        fair market value if perfect        -   fair market value as delivered. (E.g. S sells B an antique            car for $30,000, the car is defective. B keeps the car and            sues for breach of contract. The jury finds the car as            delivered, although defective, still worth $20,000 dollars.            Had the car been delivered as it should, it would have been            worth $34,000. B can recover $34,000 (if perfect deliver):            $20,000 (actual delivered)=$14,000)    -   2. When Seller breaches, and seller keeps the goods: Buyer gets        the market price at time of discovery of the breach: contract        price or replacement price-contract price.    -   3. When Buyer breaches and buyer has the goods: Seller can get        the contract price.    -   4. When Buyer breaches and seller has the goods: Seller can get        (contract price-market price at time and place of delivery) or        (contract price-resale price) and, in some situations, provable        lost profits.    -   E. Quasi-Contract and Reliance:    -   1. Unjust enrichment: Not based on contract law. A party should        pay for the benefit and value of service and materials received.        A promised gift does not count unless injustice can be avoided        only by such enforcement.    -   2. Reliance damage: Reliance damages are valued by a party's        reliance interest for the foreseeable amount. It puts the        injured party in the same dollar position as if the contract        never happened.    -   F. Nonmonetary Remedies: When remedy at law is inadequate    -   1. Specific Performance/Injunction: Equitable remedy. Unclean        hands, adequacy of remedy at law, etc.    -   a) Contracts for sale of real estate    -   b) Contract for sales of unique goods like 1) antiques, 2)        art, 3) custom-made (e.g. So car for example, would usually not        qualify for specific performance because it is not unique)    -   c) Contract for services: No specific performance, possible        injunctive relief.    -   2. Adequate Assurance of Future Performance; look for:    -   a) One party to contract learning something after the contract        that gives him reasonable grounds for insecurity about the other        party's performance, and    -   b) A written demand for adequate assurance.    -   3. Reclamation: Right of an unpaid seller to get its goods back.        Key elements:    -   a) The buyer must have been insolvent at the time that he        received the goods, and    -   b) That seller demand return goods within ID days of receipt    -   c) Buyer still has goods at time of demand    -   4. Stopping Goods in Transit or Recovering Goods in Storage if        Buyer is Insolvent    -   5. Rights of good faith purchaser in entrustment:    -   a) If the owner leaves his goods with a person who sells goods        of that kind    -   b) And that person wrongfully sells the goods to a third party    -   c) Then such a good faith purchaser from dealer cuts off rights        of the original owner/entruster.    -   VI. Third Party Beneficiary Problems    -   a) Third party beneficiary: Not a party to the contract. Able to        enforce contract others made for his benefit.    -   b) Promisor: Look for person who is making the promise that        benefits the third party.    -   c) Promisee: Look for person who obtains the promise that        benefits the third party    -   d) Intended/Incidental: Only intended third party beneficiary        has rights. Intended third party beneficiary will be named in        the contract.    -   e) Creditor/Donee: Intended beneficiaries are either Donees, or        creditors. Usually Donees. Look at whether beneficiary was a        creditor of the Promisee.        -   (1) For creditors: Need prove on debt of promise to creditor            beneficiary.        -   (2) For Donee: Need a named beneficiary.    -   2. Dealing with Efforts to Cancel or Modify: The test is whether        the third party knows of and assents to the contract. If the        third party beneficiary has assented to or relied on the        contract, his rights have vested and the contract cannot be        canceled or modified without his consent unless the contract        otherwise provides.        -   a) Who can sue whom:        -   (1) Beneficiary can sue Promisor: If pass the assents and            knows test        -   (2) Promisee can sue Promisor: Third party beneficiaries are            not replacement beneficiary, first 2 parties are still            there.        -   (3) Donee beneficiary cannot sue promise but creditor            beneficiary can:    -   3. Defenses: If the third party sues the Promisor, the Promisor        can assert any defense that he would have had if sued by the        Promisee. (So any defense between the 2 parties can be used by        Promisor when sued by third party beneficiary.)    -   B. Assignments of Rights:    -   1. Assignment is: Look for    -   a) Contract between only 2 parties    -   b) One of the parties' later transfers of rights (not duty)        under that contract to a third party.    -   c) Vocabulary:    -   (1) Assignor: Party who transfers right to another    -   (2) Assignee: Not a party to the contract. Able to enforce the        contract because of the assignment.    -   (3) Obligor: Other party to the contract.    -   2. Limitations on Assignment:    -   a) Contract Provision: Determine whether contract    -   (1) Prohibits assignments or: Language of prohibition (e.g.        rights are hereunder not assignable) takes away the right to        assignment but not the power to assign which means that the        assignor is liable for breach of contract but an assignee who        does not know of the prohibition can still enforce the        assignment.    -   (2) Invalidates assignments: Language of invalidation (e.g. all        assignments are void) takes away both the right to assign and        the power to assign so that there is a breach by the assignor        and no rights in the assignee.    -   b) Common Law: Even if a contract does not in any way limit the        right to assign. Common law bars an assignment that        substantially changes the duties of the obligor.    -   (1) Assignment of right to payment: Permitted    -   c) Assignments of other performance rights:    -   (1) Not permitted    -   (2) Example: A assigns his right to security services to H so        that C will now provide security services to H is not permitted.    -   d) Requirements for Assignment:    -   (1) Language has to be present: I assign, cannot be I will or I        promise to assign    -   (2) Consideration, generally, is not required    -   e) Right of Assignee:    -   (1) Assignee can sue the obligor    -   (2) Obligor has same defenses against assignee as he would have        against assignor.    -   (3) Payment by obligor to assignor is effective until obligor        knows of the assignment.    -   (4) Modification agreement between obligor and assignor is        effective if obligor did not know of assignment.    -   f) Multiple Assignments:    -   (1) Gratuitous assignment: Generally, last assignee wins;        however, such a gift assignment can be freely revoked.        Revocation can be accomplished directly or indirectly by        bankruptcy, death, the assignor taking performance directly from        the obligor, or the making of another assignment. Since the        later gift assignment revokes an earlier gift assignment,        without consideration, last in time rule applies and last        assignee wins.    -   (2) Assignment for Consideration: Generally, first assignee for        consideration wins, except        -   (a) A subsequent assignee takes priority over an earlier            assignee for value only if he both            -   (i) Does not know of the earlier assignment and            -   (ii) Is the first to obtain payment, a judgment, a                novation, or indicia of ownership?        -   (b) Multiple assignments for consideration as breach of            warranty: In an assignment for consideration, the assignor            makes a warranty that the rights assigned are assignable and            enforceable.    -   C. Delegation of Duties to Agents or Sub-agents:    -   1. Delegation is: Party to a contract transferring work (not        right) under that contract to third party. (e.g. P contracts to        paint D's virtual house for 1000 bitcoins, then P has a duty to        paint and a right to payment and D has a duty to pay and a right        to the painting of the virtual house)    -   2. Duties Are Delegable:    -   a) Generally, contractual duties are delegable.    -   b) Limitations are 1) contract prohibits delegations or        prohibits assignments or 2) contract calls for very special        skills or 3) person to perform contract has a very special        reputation (e.g. Mariah Carey cannot just delegate her duty to        sing at Emmy's tome).    -   3. Requirements for delegation: Essentially none.    -   a) Consideration not required, but no legal obligation on        Delegatee unless there is consideration.    -   b) Consent of other party to the original contract not required        for delegation.    -   4. Consequences of Delegation:    -   a) Delegating party remains liable    -   b) Delegatee liable to Obligee only if he receives consideration        from delegating party.

In one embodiment, security interests can be created by the electronicselling agents (creditor agents) who provide value to buying electronicagents (debtor agents) for particular resources or data access. In oneembodiment, the CC tangible collateral category are used against 1)inventory, 2) equipment, 3) consumer goods, and 4) farm products. Thesystem includes attachment code with 1) a security smart contract, 2)debtor agent has rights in the collateral, and 3) creditor agent givesvalue. The blockchain title is used to avoid the situation where thedebtor agent has given more than one security interest, the collateralhas been transferred, or against a bankruptcy Trustee. Attachmentestablishes the creditor's rights against the debtor and is necessaryfor the secured party to repossess the collateral or related proceedsfrom the debtor. Security Agreement is an authenticated blockchainrecord authenticated by debtor, reasonably identify the location and useof the collateral good or data.

The system includes code to assert a purchase money security interest(PMSI) by mere attachment for certain goods such as consumer goods. Theblockchain is used for perfection to protect the creditor agent againstthird parties. Perfection can be accomplished through 1) possession 2)control 3) filing 4) mere attachment, or 5) title certificate. Filing ofa financing statement is at the location of the debtor. Filing of thesecurity interest on the blockchain gives constructive notice to all andis effective at the time of filing.

The agent or assistant automatically schedules and executes multipleinformation retrieval tasks in accordance with the user priorities,deadlines and preferences using the scheduler. The scheduler analyzesdurations, deadlines, and delays within its plan while scheduling theinformation retrieval tasks. The schedule is dynamically generated byincrementally building plans at multiple levels of abstraction to reacha goal. The plans are continually updated by information received fromthe assistant's sensors, allowing the scheduler to adjust its plan tounplanned events. When the time is ripe to perform a particular search,the assistant spawns a child process which sends a query to one or moreremote database engines. Upon the receipt of search results from remoteengines, the information is processed and saved in the database. Theincoming information is checked against the results of prior searches.If new information is found, the assistant sends a message to the user.While the result of the search is displayed to the user, his or herinteraction with the search result is monitored in order to sense therelevancy of the document or the user interest in such search. Turningnow to FIG. 14B, the routine to monitor the user interest is shown. InFIG. 14B, from step 340, the routine displays the next agreement ordocument found by the information locator. Next, in step 342, a timer isinitialized to track the time taken to review the document displayed instep 341. In the event that the document is an HTML page with links, theroutine detects whether the user has selected one of the links in step343. If not, the routine calls a HyperText link (hyperlink) handler instep 344. From step 344, or from step 343 if the user has not selectedthe Hyperlinks, the routine proceeds to step 345 where it checks if theuser has reviewed all relevant agreements found during the search. Ifnot, the routine loops back to step 341. Alternatively, in the eventthat the user has reviewed every document found during the instantsearch, the routine of FIG. 14B computes in step 346 the time the userspent on the entire review process, as well as the time spent on eachdocument. Documents with greater user interest, as measured by the timespent in the agreement as well as the number of hypertext links fromeach agreement, are analyzed for new keywords and concepts in step 347.Next, the new keywords and concepts are clusterized using clusterprocedures such as the k-means clustering procedure known in the art andthe resulting new concepts are extracted in step 348. Next, in step 349,the query stored in the database is updated to cover the new conceptsand keywords of interest to the user. In this manner, the procedure ofFIG. 14B adapts to the user's interests and preferences on the fly sothat the next interval search is more refined and focused than theprevious interval search.

It should also be seen that it is within the scope of the system for anypart or all of a package to be encrypted using the public key of theintended recipient, and this can be developed to produce usefuladditional services. Also, if it is required that a contract only bevalid if held on a particular user's CMS, then it would be necessary toinclude a package in the contract that the user had to sign, requiringthe use of the user's private key. A 3rd party CMS who wishes to furtherconfirm the user's identity can check by asking the user to digitallysign a message at the time the 3rd party CMS is in communication withthe user's CMS. If the user's public key decrypts the message and thesame key works with the user's contract, then the user's identity isconfirmed.

In the preferred embodiment, the rules at any nested level of sealedpackage within the contract indicate the party supplying the sealingsignature at that level of the sealed package. It will be seen, however,that the rules at one level may in fact indicate the parties supplyingthe sealing signatures of any sealed packages contained in that onelevel. In the preferred embodiment, these can be associated with any URLwithin the rules indicating the location of any sealed packages. This,however, has the disadvantage that a sealed package would not havewithin itself an indication of the party who sealed it.

It should also be noted that, while the body and the database packagecontent described above contain absolute information encapsulated withinthe contract, it is possible for the content of a contract to berelative. As mentioned above, with the increase in capabilities ofsmartcards, it is possible to largely rely on a CMS running in asmartcard, with the smartcard also holding a copy of a user's privatekey. With the smartcard connected to an unsecured terminal, a package ofmodest size can be passed into the smartcard CMS for signing and thenreturned.

In commercial terms, apart from royalties for each machine a CMS isinstalled on, the validation signature for a package represents themoment that a package becomes ‘official’ and offers revenue-earningopportunities. Any change in the package rules requires a new validationsignature to be issued. By forwarding the partly completed package to aserver on the Internet, along with payment, the server can complete theprocess and return the completed package.

The system can be used for IOT Micro-Insurance Claims processing.Insurance processors have to wade through fraudulent claims, fragmenteddata sources, or abandoned policies for users to state a few—and processthese forms manually. Room for error is huge. The blockchain provides asystem for risk-free management and transparency. Its encryptionproperties allow insurers to capture the ownership of assets to beinsured. FIG. 14B shows an exemplary micro insurance system for IOTsystem. The IOT device can be any system such as robots or medicalmonitoring devices. In one example, the IOT device can also be a car,and the insurance can be adjusted for driver behavior, and such driverinformation is securely and immutably stored on the blockchain. Incontrast to conventional insurance where one driver is assigned to onecar, the system can be used to variably charge premium to different carrenters who use smart cars, for example. In an embodiment for smart carmicro rental insurance, at 4402, a driver monitoring unit with cameraand acceleration sensors can be configured to monitor the behavior ofthe driver. The system can be configured to include the drivermonitoring unit installed in the vehicle to monitor the behaviorparameters of the driver while the vehicle is being driven. The IOTsystem can be a vehicle can include cameras, gyroscope, magnetometer,accelerometer, and other sensors installed thereon to monitor thebehavior parameter of the driver. In an embodiment, the cameras orsensors may be placed at any place in the vehicle, such as for exampleat four corners of the front windshield, in a way that it can directlycapture the behavior parameters of the driver. For example, based on thedriver gestures, the cameras can detect finger position to detect thatdriver is pointing at a particular object or vehicle and searches theinternet for the vehicle. Further, in an embodiment, a flexible displayfilm adhesively secured on the front windshield. The display can be usedcontrolled by a computer to display info in a discrete way that may nottake driver's eyes off the road and opposing vehicles. In an embodiment,at 4404, the driver monitoring unit can be configured to transmit thebehavior parameters of the driver to the server 4202. In an embodiment,the driver behavior parameters described herein can include for example,but not limited to, vehicle speed, vehicle accelerations, driverlocation, seatbelt use, wireless device use, turn signal use, driveraggression, detection of CO2 vapor, detection of alcohol, driver seatingposition, time, and the like. In an embodiment, at 4406, the server 4202can be configured to transmit the driver behavior parameters to one ormore insurance providers 4204. In an embodiment, at 4408, the server canbe configured to analyze the driver behavior parameters and adjust theinsurance rates for the driver. For example, if the driver is drivingroughly by drinking alcohol then the insurance rate may get decreased.In an embodiment, at 4410, the server can be configured to match thedriver behavior preferences with similar or substantially similarpreferences of other drivers. The server can be configured to generateaction recommendations best matching the behavior of the driver. In anembodiment at 4412, the server can be configured to provide thegenerated recommendations to the driver. Based on the driver behaviorparameters the sever 4202 provides feedback and recommendations to thedriver, such as to improve the driving skills. Further, in anembodiment, a flexible display film adhesively secured on the frontwindshield. The display can be used controlled by a computer to displayinfo in a discrete way that may not take driver's eyes off the road andopposing vehicles. In an embodiment, at 4414, the server 4202 can beconfigured to frequently monitor the behavior parameters associated withthe driver. Any changes in the behavior parameters can affect theoverall system performance and the driver experience. The server 4106can be configured to frequently monitor and dynamically update theinsurance rate and action recommendations, which in turn helps thedriver for effectively improving the driving skills.

Referring again to FIG. 4B, ta method 4700 can be used for selectivelyproviding car insurance information to a service provider, according toembodiments as disclosed herein. At step 4702, the driver behavior ismonitored. The behavior data can include external parameters and/orinternal parameters. In an embodiment, the driver behaviordata/parameters described herein can include for example, but notlimited to, vehicle speed, vehicle accelerations, driver location,seatbelt use, wireless device use, turn signal use, driver aggression,detection of ethanol vapor, driver seating position, time, and the like.In an embodiment, the behavior data can be over a period of hours, days,weeks, and so forth. In an embodiment, the behavior data gathering canbe continuous, at predefined intervals, or at random intervals. Inaccordance with some aspects, data can be gathered while a vehicle is inoperation and at other times (e.g., at two a.m. to determine where thevehicle is parked overnight). In an embodiment, a change to an insurancepremium and/or an insurance coverage is prepared, at 4704. The change isbased on one or more of the driver behavior data, wherein each item ofdriver behavior data can have a different weight assigned. For example,data gathered related to weather conditions might be given less weightthan data gathered related to user distractions (e.g., passengers, useof a mobile device while vehicle is in operation, and so forth). Inanother example, excessive speed might be assigned a higher weight thandata related to safety performance of the vehicle. As such, data with ahigher weight can be given more consideration than data with a lowerweight (e.g., data assigned a higher weight can have a greater impact onthe cost of insurance). Thus, if the user is traveling at (or below) thespeed limit and speed is assigned a greater weight, then the safe speedwill tend to decrease (or remain constant) the cost of insurance. In anembodiment, the driver is notified of the change, at 4706. Thenotification can be in any perceivable format. In an example, thenotification is provided as a dashboard-mounted display. In anotherexample, presenting the change can include displaying the modified costof the insurance policy in a dashboard-mounted display and/or a heads-updisplay. In an embodiment, a service provider is notified of the change,at 708. At substantially the same time as notifying the service provider(or trusted third party) of the change, parameters taken intoconsideration (and associated weight) can also be provided. In such amanner, the service provider (or third party) can selectively furthermodify the cost of insurance, which can be communicated to the userthough the vehicle display or through other means. he service provider(or third party) might be provided the change information less oftenthan the insurance cost change information is provided to the user. Forexample, the user can be provided the insurance cost change informationdynamically and almost instantaneously with detection of one or moreparameters that can influence the insurance cost. However, the insuranceprovider (or third party) might only be notified of the change after aspecified interval (or based on other intervals). For example, insurancecost changes might be accumulated over a period of time (e.g., twoweeks) and an average of the insurance cost changes might be supplied toinsurance provider. In such a manner, the user has time to adjustparameters that tend to increase (or decrease) the cost of insurance,which allows the user to have more control over the cost of insurance. nan embodiment, vertical market specialization for insurance is providedwhere markets are defined based on granular aspects of coverage andpresented to one or more insurance subsystems to obtain quotes for acoverage premium. Such specialization allows insurance companies tocompete in more specific areas of insurance coverage, which allows formore accurate premium rates focused on the specific areas or one or morerelated scenarios. In addition, the granular aspects of coverage can beprovided to one or more advertising systems in exchange for furtherlowered rates, if desired. According to an example, an insurance marketcan be defined based on granular information received regarding an item,a related person, use of the item, etc. Based on the market, premiumquotes can be obtained from one or more insurance subsystems related toone or more insurance brokers. In addition, rates can be decreased wherethe granular information can be provided to an advertising system, inone example. In this regard, targeted advertisements can additionally bepresented to system related to requesting the insurance coverage.Policies can be automatically selected based on preferences, manuallyselected using an interface, and/or the like.

While smart car rental micro insurance is discussed, the micro insurancesystem can be used for many IOT systems. The system can be used forSmart Property. A tangible or intangible property, such as cars, houses,or cookers, on the one hand, or patents, property titles, or companyshares, on the other, can have smart technology embedded in them. Suchregistration can be stored on the ledger along with contractual detailsof others who are allowed ownership in this property. Smart keys can beused to facilitate access to the permitted party. The ledger stores andallows the exchange of these smart keys once the contract is verified.The decentralized ledger also becomes a system for recording andmanaging property rights as well as enabling the smart contracts to beduplicated if records or the smart key is lost. Making property smartdecreases risks of running into fraud, mediation fees, and questionablebusiness situations. At the same time, it increases trust andefficiency.

Other uses of the system include: Software licenses, so that when apiece of software starts on a host machine, the software requests theCMS for a valid contract; Television licenses; Car, home and otherinsurance; Mortgages; Product Guarantees; Payment Receipts; Pay-per viewand television access tokens; Internet downloaded music playbacklicenses; Road tolls payment tokens; any task that requires positiveverification such as commands issued between mission-critical systems;or distributed device architectures (e.g. JINI) that requireinter-device validation and authorization. The process not only cutsdown on fraud, such as double spending or spams, but also transfersfunds simply, safely, and fast.

The blockchain allows stranger to loan money and taking the smartproperty as collateral. No need to show the lender credit or workhistory. There is no need to manually process the numerous documents.The property's encoded on the blockchain for all to see. The systemworks with smart property and the key is easily transferred or copied.The blockchain ledger solves this problem by allowing blockchain minersto replace and replicate a lost protocol.

The system enables Blockchain Internet-of-Things (IoT) commerce. Forexample, an autonomous robot can order electricity or supplies. In oneexample, the robot as an energy buyer can send an energy supplier atransaction and which Energy seller later uses to spend thattransaction. The energy buyer spends satoshis to a typical Bitcoinaddress, and then lets Energy seller further spend those satoshis usinga simple cryptographic key pair. Energy seller can first generate aprivate/public key pair before Energy buyer can create the firsttransaction. Bitcoin uses the Elliptic Curve Digital Signature Algorithm(ECDSA) with the secp256kl curve; secp256kl private keys are 256 bits ofrandom data. A copy of that data is deterministically transformed intoan secp256kl public key. Because the transformation can be reliablyrepeated later, the public key does not need to be stored. The publickey (pubkey) is then cryptographically hashed. This pubkey hash can alsobe reliably repeated later, so it also does not need to be stored. Thehash shortens and obfuscates the public key, making manual transcriptioneasier and providing security against unanticipated problems which mightallow reconstruction of private keys from public key data at some laterpoint.

Energy seller provides the pubkey hash to Energy buyer. Pubkey hashesare almost always sent encoded as Bitcoin addresses, which arebase58-encoded strings containing an address version number, the hash,and an error-detection checksum to catch typos. The address can betransmitted through any medium, including one-way mediums which preventthe spender from communicating with the receiver, and it can be furtherencoded into another format, such as a DR code containing a bitcoin:URI. Once Energy buyer has the address and decodes it back into astandard hash, she can create the first transaction. She creates astandard P2PKH transaction output containing instructions which allowanyone to spend that output if they can prove they control the privatekey corresponding to Energy seller's hashed public key. Theseinstructions are called the pubkey script or scriptPubKey. Energy buyerbroadcasts the transaction and it is added to the block chain. Energyseller's wallet software displays it as a spendable balance. When, sometime later, Energy seller decides to spend the balance, he must createan input which references the transaction Energy buyer created by itshash, called a Transaction Identifier (txid), and the specific outputshe used by its index number (output index). He must then create asignature script-a collection of data parameters which satisfy theconditions Energy buyer placed in the previous output's pubkey script.Signature scripts are also called scriptSigs.

Pubkey scripts and signature scripts combine secp256kl pubkeys andsignatures with conditional logic, creating a programmable authorizationmechanism.

For a P2PKH-style output, Energy seller's signature script will containthe following two pieces of data:

His full (unhashed) public key, so the pubkey script can check that ithashes to the same value as the pubkey hash provided by Energy buyer.

A secp256kl signature made by using the ECDSA cryptographic formula tocombine certain transaction data (described below) with Energy seller'sprivate key. This lets the pubkey script verify that Energy seller ownsthe private key which created the public key.

Energy seller's secp256kl signature doesn't just prove Energy sellercontrols his private key; it also makes the non-signature-script partsof his transaction tamper-proof so Energy seller can safely broadcastthem over the peer-to-peer network. The data Energy seller signsincludes the txid and output index of the previous transaction, theprevious output's pubkey script, the pubkey script Energy seller createswhich will let the next recipient spend this transaction's output, andthe amount of satoshis to spend to the next recipient. In essence, theentire transaction is signed except for any signature scripts, whichhold the full public keys and secp256kl signatures. After putting hissignature and public key in the signature script, Energy sellerbroadcasts the transaction to blockchain miners through the peer-to-peernetwork. Each peer and miner independently validates the transactionbefore broadcasting it further or attempting to include it in a newblock of transactions.

Another embodiment works with Ethereum which is a platform that allowspeople to easily write decentralized applications (Dapps) usingblockchain. A decentralized application is an application which servessome specific purpose to its users, but which has the important propertythat the application itself does not depend on any specific partyexisting. The Ethereum blockchain can be alternately described as ablockchain with a built-in programming language, or as a consensus-basedglobally executed virtual machine. The part of the protocol thatactually handles internal state and computation is referred to as theEthereum Virtual Machine (EVM). From a practical standpoint, the EVM canbe thought of as a large decentralized computer containing millions ofobjects, called “accounts”, which have the ability to maintain aninternal database, execute code and talk to each other.

In one embodiment, the blockchain uses a database called a Patricia tree(or “trie”) to store all accounts; this is essentially a specializedkind of Merkle tree that acts as a generic key/value store. Like astandard Merkle tree, a Patricia tree has a “root hash” that can be usedto refer to the entire tree, and the contents of the tree cannot bemodified without changing the root hash. For each account, the treestores a 4-tuple containing [account_nonce, Ether_balance, code_hash,storage_root], where account_nonce is the number of transactions sentfrom the account (kept to prevent replay attacks), Ether_balance is thebalance of the account, code_hash the hash of the code if the account isa contract and “otherwise, and storage_root is the root of yet anotherPatricia tree which stores the storage data. Unlike Bitcoin, Ethereumblocks contain a copy of both the transaction list and the most recentstate. Aside from that, two other values, the block number and thedifficulty, are also stored in the block. The basic block validationalgorithm in Ethereum is as follows: Check if the previous blockreferenced exists and is valid.

Check that the timestamp of the block is greater than that of thereferenced previous block and less than 15 minutes into the future

Check that the block number, difficulty, transaction root, uncle rootand gas limit (various low-level Ethereum-specific concepts) are valid.

Check that the proof of work on the block is valid.

Let S[0] be the state at the end of the previous block.

Let TX be the block's transaction list, with n transactions. For all iin 0 . . . n−I, set S[i+I]=APPLY(S[i],TX[i]). If any application returnsan error, or if the total gas consumed in the block up until this pointexceeds the GASLIMIT, return an error.

Let S_FINAL be S[n], but adding the block reward paid to the miner.

Check if the Merkle tree root of the state S_FINAL is equal to the finalstate root provided in the block header. If it is, the block is valid;otherwise, it is not valid.

There are two types of accounts:

Externally owned account (EDAs): an account controlled by a private key,and if you own the private key associated with the EDA you have theability to send ether and messages from it.

Contract: an account that has its own code, and is controlled by code.

When a user sends a transaction, if the destination of the transactionis another EDA, then the transaction may transfer some ether butotherwise does nothing. However, if the destination is a contract, thenthe contract in turn activates, and automatically runs its code. Thecode has the ability to read/write to its own internal storage (adatabase mapping 32-byte keys to 32-byte values), read the storage ofthe received message, and send messages to other contracts, triggeringtheir execution in turn. Once execution stops, and all sub-executionstriggered by a message sent by a contract stop (this all happens in adeterministic and synchronous order, ie. a sub-call completes fullybefore the parent call goes any further), the execution environmenthalts once again, until woken by the next transaction.

The distributed ledger or block chain can be used for anonymous energydata analysis and benchmarking, smart grid management, green certificatetrading, energy trade validation, and energy arbitrage among microgridsand main grid.

Smart contracts can be embedded with an if-this-then-that (IFTTT) code,which gives them self-execution. In real life, an intermediary ensuresthat all parties follow through on terms. The blockchain not only waivesthe need for third parties, but also ensures that all ledgerparticipants know the contract details and that contractual termsimplement automatically once conditions are met.

Personal health records can be encoded and stored on the blockchain witha private key which would grant access only to specific individuals andcompliant with HIPAA laws (in a secure and confidential way). Onlyauthorized patients can open and consume prescription drugs. Receipts ofsurgeries can be stored on a blockchain and automatically sent toinsurance providers as proof-of-delivery. The ledger, too, can be usedfor general health care management, such as supervising drugs,regulation compliance, testing results, and managing healthcaresupplies.

The system provides solution in the music industry include ownershiprights, royalty distribution, and transparency. The digital musicindustry focuses on monetizing productions, while ownership rights areoften overlooked. The blockchain and smart contracts technology cancircuit this problem by creating a comprehensive and accuratedecentralized database of music rights. At the same time, the ledger andprovide transparent transmission of artist royalties and real timedistributions to all involved with the labels. Players would be paidwith digital currency according to the specified terms of the contract.The payment for derivative work is automated, and using executablecodes, variations of the music or content can be generated forconsumption based on payment modes.

In one embodiment, an IOT data producer with desirable data advertiseson the blockchain the type of data available and price. To enable this,the producer posts the dataset, or at minimum a description of thedataset to a searchable data store discoverable via a web search or bycommon active marketing activities, such as feeds to targeted potentialdata buyers, advertisements, and so forth. An IOT buyer finds the dataproducer and accepts the terms of the smart contract where the dataitems, the kinds of changes to data items, the scheduling oftransmissions upon changes, and other operational choices are made andagreed to. The data producer and data buyer agree to fees and prices andpayment terms for the originating dataset itself as well as for thechanges to values of data items to be posted to the block chaininfrastructure by the data producer. Micropayments, digital and hardcurrency transactions, and other payment or reward methods for thedataset and the changes in values of data items are communicated usingthe smart contract. The buyer is notified of pending transmission andconsequent transactions can continue until terminated according to thesmart contract. The computer readable code on the device of the databuyer uses the encrypted key with the data value changes in the producerstream and posts them into the relevant data table of the data buyer andthe device of the data buyer initiates or triggers server actions andevents upon confirmation of changes to data values for the data buyer.

FIGS. 14C-14G shows exemplary smart insurance systems for dynamicallyadjusting costs of insurance or rental of IOT devices, but the systemcan be applied to dynamically adjusting healthcare insurance cost basedon the user behavior. In one embodiment for car insurance, the systemincludes the following:

-   -   1. A method for pricing insurance based on driver behavior, the        method comprising:        -   mounting at least one camera and one or more sensors to            detect acceleration, speed, and positioning data in a            vehicle;        -   monitoring at least one parameter associated with a driver            behavior while the vehicle is being driven;        -   transmitting the at least one parameter associated with the            deriver to at least one server over a communication network;        -   adjusting insurance rate for the driver based on the at            least one parameter associated with the driver behavior.    -   2. The method of claim 1, wherein the method further comprises        providing feedback to the driver based on the at least one        parameter associated with the driver behavior.    -   3. The method of claim 1, wherein monitoring at least one        parameter associated with the deriver behavior further        comprises: monitoring driver behavior data from an on-board        vehicle diagnostic system.    -   4. The method of claim 3, wherein the driver behavior data        comprise parameters at least one of: vehicle speed, vehicle        accelerations, vehicle location, seatbelt use, wireless device        use, turn signal use, detection of ethanol vapor, driver seating        position, and time.    -   5. The method of claim 1, wherein the on-board vehicle        diagnostic system comprises sensors, cameras, gyroscope, and        magnetometer.    -   6. The method of claim 1, wherein the method further comprises        providing feedback to the driver based on the at least one        parameter associated with the driver behavior.    -   7. The method of claim 1, wherein the method further comprises        matching the at least one behavior parameter of the driver with        similar behavior parameters of a plurality of drivers.    -   8. The method of claim 7, wherein the method further comprises        providing recommendations to based on best matching behavior        parameters.    -   9. The method of claim 1, wherein the method further comprises        mounting the at least one camera in the vehicle to capture at        least one view of traffic.    -   10. The method of claim 1, wherein the method further comprises        using image processing techniques to detect objects captured by        the at least one camera.    -   11. The method of claim 1, wherein the method further comprises        mounting the at least one camera in the vehicle to monitor        driver behavior.    -   12. The method of claim 1, wherein the method further comprises        using voice recognition techniques to detect the driver speech.

In another embodiment for IOT short term insurance, the system includesthe following:

-   -   1. A method for pricing insurance for rental of an IOT device,        the method comprising:        -   mounting at least one camera and one or more sensors to            detect acceleration, speed, or positioning data in the IOT            device;        -   monitoring at least one parameter associated with a renter            having a behavior with the IOT device;        -   transmitting the at least one parameter associated with the            deriver to at least one server over a communication network;        -   adjusting insurance rate for the renter based on the at            least one parameter; and        -   updating a smart contract with rental terms and conditions            and insurance rate.

Other terms of the smart contract can vary. The size of the rental canimpact the price the renter pays. For an IOT car, terms like “compact,”“mid-size,” and “luxury” can vary across rental car companies. Toillustrate car sizes, companies usually provide car models or suggesthow many passengers the car seats safely. If the rental plans areflexible, the renter may be able to rent a car when price breaks areavailable. Try searching for specials geared to the length of time therenter needs the vehicle. The smart contract can specify particularminimum driving records when customers arrive at the counter, and rejectthose whose records don't meet company standards. Renters may berejected if they have recent reckless driving, seat belt law violations,accidents, leaving the scene of an accident, convictions for DrivingWhile Intoxicated (DWI) or Driving Under the Influence (DUI), drivingwith an invalid, suspended, or revoked license. Other items can includeTaxes, Early or Late Return Fees, Airport Surcharges, Fuel Charges,Mileage Fees, Roadside Assistance Fees, Out-of-State Charges, Drop-OffFees, Equipment-Rental Fees, Additional-Driver Fees, Underage-DriverFees, for example.

FIG. 14D shows a process to collect user behavior using the IOT device,and dynamically determines insurance risk rate and outputs the ratechange in response to user behavior as the behaviors occur.

FIG. 14E shows an exemplary process to collect user behavior using theIOT device, and based on population data, determines behavioral changesthat reduce the risk rate and informs the user on savings if the userchanges the behavior and rewards the user as the behaviors occur.

FIG. 14F shows a system that collects user behavior using the IOT deviceover the blockchain entries for authentication, and dynamicallydetermines risk rate for either insurance or rent pricing, and outputsthe rate change in response to user behavior as the behaviors occur.

FIG. 14G shows an exemplary system where IOT devices such as robots orsmart cars communicate securely with each other using blockchain forauthenticating messages.

FIG. 14H illustrates a system 400 for generating future contractedproduct offerings according to an embodiment. System 400 comprises amarket parameter generator 408 coupled for real-time monitoring of datarelated to a future contracted product market 410. Real-time market datarefers to data reflecting current market conditions as trading in themarket takes place. Examples of real-time market data provided toreal-time market parameter generator 108 include wholesaleover-the-counter future contracted product options market data,wholesale future contracted product options over-the-counter forwardmarket and futures market data, and spot prices for retail futurecontracted product as well as spot prices for wholesale futurecontracted product. In an alternative embodiment, a market parametergenerator may be configured to periodically and/or intermittently querycurrent values for market parameters. Exemplary products include farmproducts, electricity products, energy products, commodities, amongothers. Such products or commodities can be traded using the smartcontact and the system 400.

A market history analyzer 415 is coupled to receive and/or recordobservable real-time market data and/or historical records of marketdata related to market 110. The market history analyzer may record andstore observed market data and/or historical market data accumulatedhistorically and received by the market history analyzer. In thatmanner, market history analyzer 115 develops data related to thehistorical performance of the market. In one embodiment of the Futurecontracted product Offering Generator, market data includes retailelectricity spot prices and wholesale electricity spot prices.

A product matrix generator 425 is coupled to the market parametergenerator 108 and to the market history analyzer 415. Product matrixgenerator 425 is configured to the behavior of market Ill. Productmatrix generator 425 operates on the parameters it receives fromreal-time market parameter generator 408 and market history analyzer 415in accordance with a stochastic model of the dynamics of the market 410.In one implementation, the product matrix generator 425 may considersome of the market variables and/or other input parameters. Productmatrix generator 425 may solve a stochastic differential equation toprovide a commodity volatility model based on the input parameters.

In one embodiment, the matrix generator 425 is configured to solvestochastic differential equations for market models using parametersprovided by real-time market parameter generator 108 and market historyanalyzer 415. Among other parameters provided by real-time marketparameter generator 108 and market history analyzer 415, parametersreflecting retail future contracted product sales activity may becollected and provided to real-time market parameter generator 408 andmarket history analyzer 415 in embodiments of the Future contractedproduct Offering Generator.

For example, in one embodiment of the Future contracted product OfferingGenerator, the matrix generator 425 is configured to process spot pricespread information provided by real-time market parameter generator 408.The spot price spread information is related to a difference between aretail future contracted product spot price and a wholesale futurecontracted product spot price. Matrix generator 425 processes the spotprice spread information in accordance with a stochastic model. Inembodiments of the Future contracted product Offering Generator, thematrix generator 425 is further configured to process retail futurecontracted product forward curve parameters in accordance with astochastic model. The retail forward curve parameters may be provided bythe market history analyzer 415. In another embodiment of the Futurecontracted product Offering Generator, the matrix generator 425 mayfurther solve alternative market models that are adapted and/or deemedsuitable for use in embodiments of the Future contracted productOffering Generator.

In one embodiment of the Future contracted product Offering Generator,the matrix generator 425 receives market parameters from real-timemarket parameter generator 108 and from market history analyzer 415.Product matrix generator 425 processes and analyzes the information toprovide a solution for the adapted stochastic differential equation(SDE). Product matrix generator 425 may be coupled to price informationgenerator 430 and configured to provide the solution thereto. Based uponthe solution it receives from product matrix generator 125, priceinformation generator 430 may provide data representing a product priceat an output in one implementation. In an embodiment of the Futurecontracted product Offering Generator, the price information generator430 may also provide data representing price sensitivity at an output.In one implementation, the price sensitivity may indicate pricesensitivity not only with respect to wholesale future contracted productmarkets but also with respect to retail future contracted productprices, and/or with respect to other input variables received fromreal-time market parameter generator 408, market history analyzer 405,and/or product modeler 420.

In one embodiment, the system 400 further comprises a product modeler120. Product modeler 120 is coupled to at least one computer system 402.In some embodiments of the Future contracted product Offering Generator,the product modeler 120 is coupled to two electronic agents or robots402 and 404. In embodiments of the Future contracted product OfferingGenerator at least one of computer agent or robot 402 and 404 comprisesa future contracted product offering Purchaser computer. In someembodiments, the future contracted product offering Purchaser computermay be coupled to product modeler 420 via a communications network, suchas the Internet. A future contracted product purchaser may enterinformation related to a future contracted product, such as a futurecontracted product offering, using the future contracted productoffering Purchaser computer. The future contracted product offeringPurchaser computer transmits the information to product modeler 420. Inone implementation, the product modeler 420 may use the information fromthe future contracted product offering Purchaser to determine featuresof a financial product to be modeled by product modeler 420.

In one embodiment, the Future contracted product Offering Generator 400comprises at least one Distributor computer system 404. Distributorcomputer system 404 is coupled to product modeler 420 and may enable aDistributor to define characteristics of a financial product comprisingfuture contracted product offerings to be offered to a consumer. In thatembodiment a Distributor inputs data to Distributor computer 404.Distributor computer 404 provides the data to product modeler 420.Product modeler 420 models the financial product in accordance with thecharacteristics provided by Distributor computer system 404.

Product modeler 420 is coupled to product matrix generator 425. Basedupon inputs from at least one of a future contracted product purchasercomputer or smart agent 402 and a Distributor computer or smart agent404 product modeler 420 generates data representing features of afinancial product. System 400 determines the price of the financialproduct based upon product data provided by product modeler 420,real-time market parameters provided by real-time market parametergenerator and on historical market data provided by market historyanalyzer 415.

In one embodiment of the Future contracted product Offering Generator,the matrix generator 425 is coupled to a consumer behavior modeler 470.Consumer behavior modeler 470 receives data representing Purchaser(e.g., consumer) behavior with respect to future contracted productoffering execution and/or purchase, ownership, exercising, and/or thelike. Based upon the behavior data consumer behavior modeler 470provides Purchaser and/or consumer behavior parameters to matrixgenerator 425. In that embodiment, matrix generator 425 considers thePurchaser and/or consumer behavior in calculating price for a financialproduct.

In one implementation of the Future contracted product OfferingGenerator, a future contracted product offering comprises a productrelated to future purchases of future contracted product in a retailfuture contracted product market. Both the retail and the wholesalefuture contracted product markets are observed. Observable wholesalefuture contracted product market parameters include wholesale futurecontracted product over-the-counter (OTC) options information, wholesaleproduct over-the-counter (OTC) forward market data in a wholesale futurecontracted product market. Future contracted product market dataincluding retail future contracted product spot price information isobtained. Market parameters related to current market conditions aregenerated based on the observed future contracted product marketcondition 411. At least one generated market parameter related tocurrent market conditions is wholesale-retail spot price spread in oneimplementation. Other generated market parameters may include awholesale implied volatility and a wholesale forward curve. In oneembodiment, parameters related to current market conditions are sampledand stored to provide historical data describing past market behavior413. One sampled and stored parameter used in one implementation toprovide historical data is retail future contracted product market spotprice. Thus historical data related to retail future contracted productspot price is acquired. Historical data, such as data related to retailfuture contracted product spot price, may be analyzed 419. The analysismay, in one implementation, consider retail future contracted productmarket information. The data is used to estimate parameters of modelsfor future contracted product market behavior 421. Examples of generatedfuture contracted product market behavior parameters may include retailimplied volatility, wholesale mean reversion, retail forward curve andretail mean reversion. The indicators of future contracted productmarket behavior and the parameters related to current market conditionsare analyzed 423. In one embodiment of the Future contracted productOffering Generator, the analyzing step is carried out by stochasticmodeling. Price information for the future contracted product offeringis generated 443. In one embodiment of the Future contracted productOffering Generator, price sensitivity information related to the futurecontracted product offering is generated 444. In further embodiments ofthe invention Purchaser and/or consumer behavior may be observed 441.Data related to Purchaser and/or consumer behavior is obtained based onthe observations. In one embodiment of the invention Purchaser and/orconsumer behavior data is analyzed 442 as considered in an analyzingstep 423 as a factor in generating price information 443.

A buyer agent can now electronically enter into a smart contract withthe price generator. In one implementation, a Contract Provider Agentexecuting the system 400 may price offerings, make them available to aPurchaser market, execute Purchaser offering purchases, and honorPurchaser offering exercises. In another implementation, the Providermay price offerings and make them available to an intermediaryDistributor entity, who may provide them to a Purchaser market andinterface with Purchasers for offer purchases and exercises. Thecontracts between the provider agent and the buyer agents (and thedistributor agents such as the agents handling trip planning anddelivery, for example) use the smart contract discussed above. A futurecontracted product offering may include specific details regarding theterms and conditions such as product type, quantity, Strike Price,Duration or Tenor and Premium, along with blockchain identifiers (IDs)that uniquely link the contract to the parties. The contracts can beautomatically executed by the agents as needed, thus distributing thedecision making to the last possible moment with current condition andoptimizing cost/benefits.

In an effort to offset, mitigate, and/or eliminate some amount of riskassociated with the sale of offerings, the Provider may elect to select,purchase, and/or manage a portfolio of hedging instruments. A Providerdevised hedging portfolio may be comprised of a variety of differenttypes of holdings in various implementations that may include but arenot limited to equities, debts, derivatives, synthetics, notes, stocks,preferred shares, bonds, debentures, options, futures, swaps, rights,warrants, commodities, currencies, long and/or short positions, ETFs,and/or other assets or investment interests. In one implementation, aProvider devised hedging portfolio may be comprised of forward contractsand/or futures of exchange or over-the-counter (OTC) traded wholesalefuture contracted product options, product options, and/or the like.Sensitivity data provides information describing the degree to which aparticular input variable (e.g., a market parameter) affects the strikeprice and/or premium of an offering. Counteracting the risk associatedwith an offering may, therefore, be accomplished by seeking instrumentswhose sensitivity to input variables is similar in magnitude butopposite in direction to offering sensitivities. Observed offeringexecution and exercise practices and/or trends of Purchasers may furtheraffect Provider hedging strategies and/or practices. For example, anobservation of sub-optimal exercise of offerings by Purchasers mayindicate to a Provider that a smaller purchase of hedging instrumentswill suffice to offset the risk associated with the offerings. In theextreme case, wherein the offerings are never exercised under anycircumstances, the Provider would have no need for hedging instrumentsat all.

The Purchaser may be an electronic agent or entity who desires topurchase future contracted product offering to mitigate futurecontracted product costs over some period of time. In accordance withthis goal, a number of future contracted product offerings may be madeavailable for purchase by the Distributor agent, among others.

In one example, an agent or machine acting as a Product Purchaserpurchases a future contracted product offering with a particular strikeprice for certain future contracted product volume (N) using the smartcontract with a blockchain ID. At some point subsequent to the purchaseof the future contracted product offering, the Purchaser may decide topurchase X amount of future contracted product. In so doing, thePurchaser may elect to exercise the offering on the future contractedproduct purchase of X, generally depending upon the market price offuture contracted product at the time of purchase. In the case where thecost of future contracted product is less than the strike price, it doesnot make economic sense for the Purchaser agent/machine to exercise theoffering, for reasons described above, and in such a situation, thePurchaser may simply enter into a smart contract to purchase the productat the market price. Alternatively, in the case where the cost of futurecontracted product is greater than the strike price, particularly wherethe cost of future contracted product is greater than the strikeprice+premium, it may make economic sense to exercise the futurecontracted product offering, though the Purchaser may not necessarilyexercise the future contracted product offering (e.g., if the Purchaserexpects the cost of future contracted product to be even higher the nextday). In some embodiments, the future contracted product offering may beautomatically exercised whenever the cost of future contracted productis greater than the strike, or alternatively, the strike+premium. Inanother embodiment, the future contracted product offering is notexercised automatically. If the Purchaser decides to exercise the futurecontracted product offering, the Purchaser profile (e.g., a data filethat includes information regard the Purchaser's future contractedproduct offering(s)) or like information source regarding the futurecontracted product offering may be queried using the blockchain ID todetermine the unused future contracted product volume (R) remaining forthe future contracted product offering. A determination is then made asto whether the remaining volume (R) is equal to or greater than purchasevolume (X). If not, then the Purchaser enters into another agreement forthe full purchase at market rate. In another embodiment the Purchasermay be able to exercise the future contracted product offering for apartial amount of the full purchase (i.e., for the remaining volume).Otherwise, a determination is made regarding whether the prevailingproduct price (or other price, such as the national average price, asindicated by the implementation) is greater than the strike price. Ifso, the Purchaser's account is credited with the difference (D) betweenthe strike price and the pump price, multiplied by the amount purchased.Otherwise, in the case where the prevailing pump price is determined tobe less than the strike price, the Purchaser pays the prevailing pumpprice.

The blockchain can facilitate self-organization by providing aself-management platform for companies, NGOs, foundations, governmentagencies, academics, and individual citizens. Parties can interact andexchange information on a global and transparent scale—think of GoogleCloud, but larger and less risky. Smart contracts can ensure thatelectorates can be elected by the people for the people so thatgovernment is what it's meant to be. The contracts specify theelectorate's expectations and electors will get paid only once they dowhat the electorate demanded rather than what funders desired.

The system provides smart Blockchain Identity. The passport is stored onthe ledger, given a Bitcoin address with a public IP, and confirmed byBlockchain users. The blockchain can make record-keeping more reliableby encrypting birth and death certification and empowering citizens toaccess this crucial information. The passport or personal ID can havesmart agents execute tasks that are secure, traceable and anonymous.

One embodiment includes a reference to a physical government ID or aphysically signed contract in the smart contract, and vice versa, asfollows:

(a) deploy the smart contract in question, record its address on theblockchain, and include that address in the real contract

(b) hash the corresponding real-world contract, record its hash digest,store the real contract in a safe space,

(c) send a transaction to the smart contract that includes the realcontract's hash in its metadata; the contract then stores that piece ofinformation in its own, internal database. In this manner, the systemcan prove the link between the actions on the blockchain and theexpected outcome in the physical world

An IoT manufacturer deploys a smart contract that allows IoT devices tostore the hash of the latest firmware update on the network. The deviceseither ship with the smart contract's address hard coded into theblockchain client, or the devices find out about it via a discoveryservice. The devices can then query the contract, find out about the newfirmware, and request it by its hash via a distributed peer-to-peerfilesystem such as IPFS. Assuming the devices are configured so as toshare the binary they got, a device that joins the network long afterthe manufacturer has stopped participating in it, can still retrieve thefirmware update and be assured that it is the right file. This allhappens automatically, without any user interaction.

In another example, a blockchain network where cryptocurrency isexchanged provides a convenient billing layer and paves the way for amarketplace of services between devices. In the example above, devicesthat store a copy of the binary may charge for serving it, in order tosustain their infrastructure costs (or simply to make a profit). Devicescan “rent their disk space”. API calls are monetized where the callerneeds to provide the necessary micropayment (in Bitcoin or Ethereumrespectively) before requesting them. With a cryptocurrency in place,every device can have its own bank account on the Internet; it can thenexpose its resources to other devices (or users) and get compensated fortheir usage via microtransactions. This also facilitates the sharing ofservices and property in general.

Smart electronic locks can be unlocked with a device that carries theappropriate token. These tokens are bought on the Ethereum blockchain, apublic blockchain network optimized for smart contracts that uses itsown cryptocurrency, called Ether. The owner of a smart lock that wishesto rent their house or car sets a price for timed access to thatelectronic door lock. An interested party can use a mobile app toidentify the lock, pay the requested amount in Ethers, then communicatewith the lock via a properly signed message to unlock it. Billing issimplified by having all the locks operating on the same blockchain.

In block diagrams, illustrated components are depicted as discretefunctional blocks, but embodiments are not limited to systems in whichthe functionality described herein is organized as illustrated. Thefunctionality provided by each of the components may be provided bysoftware or hardware modules that are differently organized than ispresently depicted, for example such software or hardware may beintermingled, conjoined, replicated, broken up, distributed (e.g. withina data center or geographically), or otherwise differently organized.The functionality described herein may be provided by one or moreprocessors of one or more computers executing code stored on a tangible,non-transitory, machine readable medium. In some cases, third partycontent delivery networks may host some or all of the informationconveyed over networks, in which case, to the extent information (e.g.,content) is said to be supplied or otherwise provided, the informationmay be provided by sending instructions to retrieve that informationfrom a content delivery network.

In one embodiment, a computer system includes:

-   -   a smart contract with computer-readable program code executable        by a processing circuit for:    -   embedding key data in each term of the smart contract, the key        data being associated with a blockchain identification and        usable to conduct a transaction a, wherein a record of the        transaction becomes visible in a transaction ledger;    -   monitoring the transaction ledger to determine whether a        transaction against the blockchain identification has occurred;    -   applying a contract expert module to interpret contract terms;        and    -   enforcing the smart contract at the machine level if no dispute        and otherwise enforcing the smart contract by court, arbitration        or administrative agency using a contract management system        (CMS).    -   Implementations can include one or more of the following:    -   holding a store of value at a bank or escrow to pay for        completion of contract terms.    -   verifying completion of contractual terms using a third party        computer agent.    -   owners of IoT devices and sensors share generated IoT data in        exchange for real-time micropayments.    -   producing energy produced by IoT energy harvester generates        cryptocurrency value registered on the blockchain.    -   placing a Bill of Lading on a blockchain and terms of the        shipping contract are executed in code based on real-time    -   data provided from IoT devices (Smart Agents) accompanying        shipping containers.    -   blockchain in auto supply chains.    -   providing real-time information from sensor data from various        vehicle parts are integrated with blockchain to make    -   real-time decisions and transactions involving services and        payments.    -   recording environmental conditions during the shipment of one or        more products and during a change of ownership,    -   checking collected data against each product's corresponding        smart contract in the Ethereum blockchain.    -   performing contract negotiations among IOT devices.    -   a first IOT device managing a cost of the device, wherein the        IOT device negotiates power reduction or power from another IOT        device to optimize the cost.    -   placing a resupply or maintenance request with device location.    -   using blockchain-enabled smart contracts to ensure that the        appropriate parties are notified of noncompliant events and        automatically enforce privacy regulations; rules embedded via        smart contracts dictate what they can see and when. Moreover, as        data and transactions are shifted or linked to blockchains,        organizations can track who has shared data and with whom,        without revealing the data itself.    -   recording a lifecycle of a product by storing manufacturing,        diagnostic and maintenance and end-of-life data on a blockchain.    -   lending an item with lending terms in the smart contract.    -   receiving a request for lending an item; generating as contract        terms an owner identifier that has the right to use and lend the        item, an identifier of the item, and the lendable number of        times of the item; a borrower identifier specified by the owner,        and a lending period matching the borrower identifier; and        unlocking the item for use during the lending period according        to contract terms.        -   a. for record keeping: providing an irreversible, secure,            time-stamped record of the creation of IP;        -   b. to register and clear IP rights;        -   c. to control and track the distribution of (un-) registered            IP rights;        -   d. to provide evidence of first use in commerce/trade and/or            (genuine) use of a trade mark;        -   e. to establish and enforce IP contracts, licenses etc            through smart contracts;        -   f. to transmit payments in real-time to IP owners;        -   g. for authentication: detection of counterfeit or fake            goods;        -   h. provenance: detection and retrieval of stolen goods;        -   i. detection of grey or parallel imported goods; and        -   j. enforcement of exclusive distribution networks.

In another scenario, a user may wish to borrow money for the purpose ofbuying a product or good in a social network. The blockchain ID of theproduct can be recorded with the financing transaction showing that thefunder paid for the good but ownership is with the borrower, effecting alien to each lender that is extinguished only by full payment or consentof the lender; and upon full payment to lenders, a smart contractindicates in each lending blockchain entry that the debt has been paidoff and the lien on the good or product is extinguished so that thebuyer can rese the good/product if desired.

A recommendation may be provided to the user automatically uponfinishing the item (e.g., after reading an entire eBook) to lend his orher item to another user in the social network. The system thatgenerates the recommendations may be configured to recommend lending tousers based on distance or reputation in the social network or to userswith high lending metrics more so than other users.

In another scenario, the user may have items to lend and may also wishto borrow non-monetary items. A loan-matching infrastructure mayidentify another user with complementary lendable items and borrowingdesires. The loan matching may additionally function as a mechanism forintroducing users that are in the same social network but not yetconnected to one another in that social network, or it may serve tostrengthen the relationship between users who are already connected.

As a further scenario, the architecture may enable a user with alendable item to broadcast and/or narrowcast the availability of theitem to just friends or to many other users. One of multiple users thatrespond to the broadcast/narrowcast may be selected based on speed ofresponse, lending metric, social network relationship, and the like. Foritems that are able to be lent only a limited number of times, thistechnique of soliciting many responses may assist the user in decidingwhich user or users are allowed to borrow the item.

The process for establishing and/or managing a group of members in arotating credit association (RCA) is as follows in one implementation:

 Organizer joins a social network (152)  Organizer applies to create aLending Group (154)  System authenticates the Organizer and determineshow much the Lending Group can lend based on Organizer's socialconnection and other indicia of financial trustworthiness (156) Organizer determines group size, total amount disbursed for a period,and amount each member is expected to contribute for each period (158) Organizer identifies potential members and System authenticates eachpotential member based on the member's social connection and otherindicia of financial trustworthiness (160)  Organizer invites selectedmembers to join the Group (162)  System collects payments from membersof the Group with blockchain smart contract (164)  Based on terms of thesmart contract, system selects a member who will receive the currentGroup payment, distributes periodic award to member, and removes memberfrom future award for the rest of the year (166)  System flags memberswho don't pay or fail to meet the terms of the agreement and shows suchstatus to the member's friends (168)

The systems and methodologies for self-financing, and rotating creditassociations incorporating or implementing these systems andmethodologies, have been provided herein that offer an attractivealternative to conventional consumer credit and savings systems forpersons, such as immigrants and minorities, who may have nontraditionalcredit histories or who are otherwise disadvantaged in the underwritingprocesses attendant to most consumer loans. The systems andmethodologies, which feature rotating credit associations in which themembers are trustworthy due to their social network links, and backed upwhen the number of group members making payments to a common fund isgreater than the number of time intervals (typically months) or datesover which awards are made from the common fund, and further buttressedby insurance, can tolerate a high percentage of defaults or membershipcancellations by its participants without becoming insolvent.

One embodiment provides a pooled investment fund in accordance withcertain embodiments of the present invention. In certain embodiments,the exemplary method may be executed in whole or part by the protocolsincluded in the users' cryptographic wallets. A security fund is createdby embedding one or more blocks on a blockchain ledger which at leastinclude data associated with a base security document, a set of one ormore security rules and ownership of the security fund. The basesecurity document may represent a document that specifies the terms,conditions and other details related to the implementation andmanagement of the security fund. The issuer may initially be designatedas the owner of the security fund. The terms of the smart contract aredefined and can include compliance rules with government security rules,system regulations and restrictions.

Exemplary information that may be embedded into the data tokens andblockchain ledger may include: Issuer Identification (ID), Investor ID,Product ID, Security Type Data, Regulatory and Restriction Data,Transaction History on previous purchasers and sellers that exchangedthe security and/or any information relevant to any of the transactionsinvolving the security, Share Amount, Investor Compliance Information onanti-money laundering laws, know your customer guidelines or other typesof compliance regulations, etc., Investor Suitability, BeneficialOwnership.

Other relevant information may also be embedded into the data tokens,and that the embedded information may vary based on the type of securityproduct. Any and all of the above data may also be embedded or includedin entries that are added to the blockchain ledger. For example, datatokens and blockchain ledger may include embedded information thatincludes an executive summary, a comprehensive description for thesecurity, base security documents related to the creation of thesecurity, and other documentation. Alternatively, a link or cypher thatis used to identify and/or access a location (e.g., via a networkaddress associated with the platform) where this information can beretrieved.

The security or loan offering is then placed on the blockchain ledger,and broadcasted to prospective members. The members in turn review andinvest by accepting the terms of the smart contracts and fund theinvestment. The blockchain is updated to reflect smart contractsexecution by investors in connection with a security offering. Theblocks that are appended to the blockchain ledger may be utilized toupdate the ownership status of the security fund and may specifyinvestments made by the investors. The blocks may link back to one ormore prior blocks on the ledger which are associated with the securityfund. One or more corresponding data tokens may then be transferred toeach of the investors.

The investments submitted by the investors may be pooled together tomonetize the security offering. When the investors are submittinginformation in connection with the smart contract, the investors mayplace money or other currency in escrow to secure payment in connectionwith the investment. Once the contract is confirmed and the blockchainledger is appended with a corresponding entry, the money or othercurrency may be transferred into the investment pool.

In one embodiment, the security offering can be used to invest inindividual companies such as start-ups seeking crowd-funding. In thisembodiment, the issuer ID is the startup name with ID linked to asecretary of state or a law firm.

In another embodiment, the security offering can be loan where borrowersseeking to borrow from the security fund. Purchases by the borrowerswith the loan are also on the blockchain ledger and are linked to thepooled investment fund as security for the loan. Thus, loans for housingcan be provided at a cheaper rate than loans for vacations, for example.The smart contracts may retrieve the security rules to configurethemselves to implement any specified regulations and restrictions. Theblocks appended to the blockchain ledger stores the borrowing amount ofeach borrower and identity of each borrower. The blocks may link back toone or more prior blocks on the blockchain ledger which are associatedwith the security fund. One or more corresponding data tokens may thenbe transferred to each of the investors to represent the borrowing debtassociated with the portfolios that are maintained by theircryptographic wallets.

The system thus allows microloans to be funded and applied in a secureand automated low cost manner.

FIGS. 14I-14J show exemplary blockchain energy delivery system that canservice IOT robots and households using smart contracts, among others.Renewable energy certificate provides accumulates, distributes, orotherwise sells “green tags”. The RECs, also known as green tags,renewable energy credits, or tradable renewable certificates (TRC's),are tradable environmental commodities that represent proof that onemegawatt-hour (MWh) of electricity was generated from an eligiblerenewable energy resource. However, conventional system can't track thesource of the RECs. One embodiment of the system uses power packetdispatching, as shown in FIG. 14I, where N power sources (identifiedusing blockchains) supply the power to M loads based on the demand. Theloads can pay the source with tokens or coins, and the payment can becontractual in nature. For example, the buyer can hedge its purchases bybuying in advance from one or more sources. Similarly, the sources cansell energy in advance and the contract information can be included inthe contract portion of Ethereum blockchain body in one embodiment. Asshown in FIG. 14I, the mixer governs the order of power packets frompower sources to transfer and the routers dispatch them to loads. Thepower line network fundamentally has tie and loop line connections.Before discussing the configuration and networking problems, it issignificant to confirm the packet transfer through one power line frommultiple sources to paralleled loads. Therefore, in the followingdiscussions, N and M are set at the lowest number 2. It does not losethe generality to confirm the feasibility of packet transfer in the gridnetwork. A power packet is a voltage wave, with a header, a payload withblockchain ID, and a footer. A header consists of a start signal and anaddress signal, a payload carries power, and a footer consists of an endsignal as in FIG. 14J. Distribution from two power sources to two loadsis performed by time division multiplexing (TOM). A mixer forms powerpackets by switching from a dc power source. The power packets aredelivered from the mixer to a router through one transmission line. Whenthe router receives power packets, they are sorted based on theirblockchain information and sent to routers or objective loads.

Each energy supplier and consumer operates autonomously based on theirlocal policy, algorithms and rules, initiating the power transfersappropriately. The energy is tagged with identification informationstored in the blockchain including generation source, route of delivery,storage device (if any) and end user (energy consumer). When energystorage is used, the usual restriction that energy must be produced andconsumed at the same time is relaxed. Storage enables flexiblecommercial trading so energy can be reserved for future use, and thetime of delivery can be selected by the energy user. Energy flows aremonitored by built-in metering devices and recorded together withreservation information, including time, seller, buyer, price, energysource, energy amount, among others. These records are in thedistributed ledger or block chain and will be like a bankbook forordinary financial transactions.

The body of the blockchain can incorporate several types of messagesthat the active grid elements (for example, an ALC manager) may receivefrom a coordinator and process accordingly. By way of example and notlimitation, a security alert message, a priority message, a reporttrigger message, a status response message, a status update message, apower savings message, and combinations thereof. A security alertmessage originates from an optional security or safety monitoring systeminstalled in the residence or business and coupled to the active gridelement(s) (e.g., wirelessly or via a wired connection). When a securityalert message is received by the Coordinator, it accesses the databaseto obtain routing information for determining where to send the alert,and then sends the alert as directed to those active grid elementsaffected or associated with the alert messaging. For example, theCoordinator may be programmed to send the alert or another message(e.g., IP-based message, an electronic mail message, a pre-recordedvoice message, and combinations thereof) to a security monitoringservice company and/or the owner of the residence or business.

Energy consumption patterns associated with active grid elements aresubject to analysis that may be used for a variety of different types ofactivities. For example, based on the energy consumption patternscreated from this data, the Coordinator will derive performance curvesand/or data matrices for each service point to which the active gridelements are attached and determine the amount of energy reduction thatcan be realized from each active grid element and its functionalitywithin the electric power grid. The Coordinator(s) create a list ofservice points associated with the active grid elements through whichenergy consumption can be reduced via demand side management,interruptible load, or spinning/regulation reserves. This informationcan be manipulated by the Coordinator and/or ALD processes to create aprioritized, rotational order of control, called “intelligent loadrotation” which is described in detail below. This rotational shiftingof the burden of the interruptible load has the practical effect ofreducing and flattening the utility load curve while allowing theserving utility to effectively group its customers within the ALD or itsown databases by energy efficiency.

Augmented Reality/Virtual Reality Sports Gaming

FIG. 15 shows an exemplary 360 degree camera on a helmet, for example,for augmenting reality of sport games. Using augmented reality, variousways may exist for a user to “participate” in a live event. Generally,augmented reality refers to a presentation of a real world environmentaugmented with computer-generated data (such as sound, video, graphicsor other data). In some embodiments, augmented reality, implemented inconjunction with a live event, may allow a user to control a virtualobject that appears to compete or otherwise interact with theparticipants of the live event. For example, an end user device, such asa mobile phone, tablet computer, laptop computer, or gaming console maybe used to present a live video feed of an event to a user

FIG. 15A shows a multi-headed camera array 423 that may be at least partof a modular camera system, with each camera forming a module of themodular camera system. The camera array has a flexible structure so thatit is easy to remove a particular camera module from the camera arrayand to add new camera modules to the camera array. The camera modules inthe camera array may be configured in different geometries. For example,the camera array includes multiple camera modules arranged in a line, acylinder, a sphere, or another geometry. Each camera module may beconfigured to point to a different direction so that the camera arraymay capture an object or a scene from multiple directions at the sametime.

The camera system described herein may additionally include a set ofalgorithms for processing the video data captured by the camera array.The set of algorithms are stored on a non-transitory memory forconverting the input across multiple camera modules into a single streamof 3D video (e.g., a single compressed stream of 3D video data). The setof algorithms may be implemented in one or more “modules”. For example,the set of algorithms includes color correction algorithms for smoothingand correcting colors in the video data. In another example, the set ofalgorithms may be implemented in software that stitches the video datafrom multiple cameras into two large-format, panoramic video streams forleft and right eye viewing, and encodes and compresses the video using astandard MPEG format or other suitable encoding/compression format.

The camera array 423 may be constructed using various configurations.For example, the camera modules may be configured in differentgeometries (e.g., a sphere, a line, a cylinder, a cone, a cube, etc.)with the corresponding lenses 113 facing in different directions. Forexample, the camera modules are positioned within the camera array 423in a honeycomb pattern where each of the compartments form an aperturewhere a camera module may be inserted. In another example, the cameraarray 423 includes multiple lenses along a horizontal axis and a smallernumber of lenses on a vertical axis.

In some embodiments, the camera modules in the camera array 423 areoriented around a sphere in different directions with sufficientdiameter and field-of-view to capture enough view disparity to renderstereoscopic images. For the athlete/participant who wish to enhancetheir gaming via augmented or virtual reality, features may include thefollowing: A method for using augmented reality, the method comprising:receiving, by a computerized device, a data stream with a 360 degreeview of a live event on each participant, wherein the data streamcomprises live video augmented with positions of team mates and opposingplayers and recommends a play routine based on live field condition andpositions of other players, wherein the user can select a point of viewfrom a selected participant.

FIG. 15 shows an exemplary recommender to aid an athlete in improvingthe game. For example, the process can recommend a strategy in light ofthe opponent's historical performance. In tennis, a player's historicalweakness can be ascertained and a recommendation can be made to optimizesuccess.

The data can be stored as part of a blockchain secured datadistribution. Blockchain distribution can provide benefits in aheterogeneous device environment, facilitate ad hoc devicesynchronization, and embody a distributed patch and communicationsnetwork. Devices can receive a blockchain block from another device and,in some embodiments, enable other devices to access the block from thedevice. In some embodiments, devices can discard irrelevant blocks,however, an entire blockchain can be reconstructed where partialblockchains can be received from more than one device. Additionally,checkpoint blocks can enable devices to navigate the blockchainefficiently by skipping over known irrelevant blocks.

To secure data distribution, the device's operation includes one or moreof:

receiving a blockchain block comprising an identifier and a payload,wherein the identifier is associated with determining a relevancy of thepayload to a device; and in response to determining that the identifiersatisfies a rule related to a characteristic of the device, employingthe payload by the device.

storing a portion of a blockchain comprising the blockchain block at thedevice; and facilitating access to the blockchain block by anotherdevice.

portion of the blockchain is all of the blockchain.

payload can include code to alter code in the device.

rule relates to a brand, type, class, series, or model of the device.

rule relates to a version of software or firmware of the device.

employing the payload by the device causes the device to access anotherblockchain block.

verifying a transaction between a first party and a second party using ablockchain, further including initiating a transaction regarding atransfer of electronic content from the first party to the second party;compiling, by the first party, a body of electronic informationregarding the electronic content into an package; submitting, by thefirst party, the package to a blockchain node; validating, by theblockchain node, the transaction; and adding, by the blockchain node,details of the transaction to a pending block of the blockchain.

processing a pending block and appending information to a priorblockchain, wherein the processing is performed after an elapse of apredetermined time interval.

compiling includes encrypting the envelope, the body of electronicinformation, and a key.

validating includes a utilization of a public key of the first party.

propagating, by the blockchain node, details of the validatedtransaction to the blockchain.

The present system machine processes contracts that have smart contractvalidation rules and executable byte codes inside of the smartcontracts, and a contract management software (CMS) that processes therules to, inter alia, determine the validity of the smart contract.

In one aspect, a computer system includes:

a store of value to pay for completion of contract terms;

a smart contract with computer-readable program code executable by aprocessing circuit for:

embedding key data in each term of the smart contract, the key databeing associated with the store of value and usable to conduct atransaction against the store of value, wherein a record of thetransaction becomes visible in a transaction ledger;

monitoring the transaction ledger to determine whether a transactionagainst the store of value has occurred; and

designating the term as completed and verified by a third party in theevent that a transaction against the store of value has occurred; and

-   -   an arbitration computer to adjudicate terms of the smart        contract and enforcing the smart contract.

In another aspect, a computer program product for monitoring compliancewith a smart contract, the computer program product comprising anon-transitory computer-readable medium having stored computer-readableprogram code, the computer-readable program code executable by aprocessing circuit for:

embedding key data in each term of the smart contract, the key databeing associated with a store of value and usable to conduct atransaction against the store of value, wherein a record of thetransaction becomes visible in a transaction ledger;

monitoring the transaction ledger to determine whether a transactionagainst the store of value has occurred; and

designating the term as completed and verified by a third party in theevent that a transaction against the store of value has occurred.

In implementations, a digital contract according to one embodiment canbe dynamically generated by a CMS within an entity, for example aterminal, filled in, signed, passed to another entity (a person or acomputer), signed by the entity's CMS, passed back and verified on thespot, and it is the inclusion of computer readable rules within thecontract that makes it possible to so automatically and easily validatethe contract. For example, it would be possible using the embodiment tosign up to an insurance policy on the Internet and receive the completedcontract policy in one sitting.

Further features of the system provide for the computer-readable programcode to be executable by the processing circuit to perform the furthersteps of: storing, in a database, the key data or data derived at leastpartially therefrom in association with an entity credential of anOfferor machine; if the term is designated as accessed by a third party,identifying the term as satisfied based on the third party access; andin response to determining that a transaction against the store of valuehas occurred, updating the database to indicate that the key data ordata derived at least partially therefrom associated with the entitycredential was used to conduct a transaction against the store of value.

Yet further features of the system provide for the store of value tohave a balance of digital currency; for the transaction ledger to be ashared public ledger containing records of transactions conducted usingthe digital currency; for the digital currency to be a blockchain; forthe store of value to be a blockchain address; and for the blockchainaddress to be represented by or derived at least partially from ablockchain public key corresponding to a blockchain private key.

Still further features of the system provide for the key data to includethe blockchain private key or an address identifier derived at leastpartially from the blockchain private key; for conducting a transactionagainst the store of value to include using at least the blockchainprivate key to perform a blockchain transaction; and for performing theblockchain transaction to include transferring at least some of abalance of blockchain held at the blockchain address to a second,receiving blockchain address represented by or derived at leastpartially from a second, receiving blockchain public key.

A further feature of the system provides for one or more of theblockchain private key, the address identifier and the blockchain publickey to be associated with an authorized entity authorized to possess theservice or item and to be stored, in a database, in association with anentity credential of the authorized entity, wherein if the service oritem is designated as accessed by a third party, the authorized entityis identified as the responsible party to be held accountable for thethird party access.

Further features of the system provide for the key data to be readablefrom the service or item by any third party that accesses the service oritem either directly or using a software tool; and for the step ofembedding key data in the service or item to include embedding aplurality of sets of key data in the service or item.

Yet further features of the system provide for the plurality of sets ofkey data to provide progressive levels of key data, wherein differentsoftware tools are required to access each of the progressive levels orto read the key data from each of the progressive levels; and for asoftware tool required to access a particular level of key data or toread the key data from the particular level to be made publiclyavailable once it becomes known that techniques are available forremoving the key data of a previous level from the service or item.

Still further features of the system provide for the blockchain addressto be controlled or managed by a party capable of monitoring the sharedpublic ledger to determine whether a transaction against the store ofvalue has occurred; and for the party controlling or managing theblockchain address to be selected from the group consisting of: anindividual having ownership or control of the service or item, a grouphaving ownership or control of the service or item, an authorized entityauthorized to possess the service or item, a service or item providerfrom which one or more authorized entity has requested the service oritem, and a third party associated with the service or item provider.

Further features of the system provide for the service or item to be amedia item; and for the media item to be a digital or analogue mediaitem selected from the group consisting of: one or more video files,streaming media, one or more image files, one or more audio files, oneor more electronic documents, one or more electronic books, one or moretextual media files, one or more computer program files, online contentand binary data, one or more video recordings and one or more audiorecordings.

Yet further features of the system provides for the step of embeddingkey data in the service or item to include one or more of the steps of:embedding the key data in the service or item using digitalwatermarking, embedding the key data in the service or item usinganalogue watermarking, embedding the key data in the service or item asa one-dimensional or two-dimensional barcode, embedding the key data inthe service or item as a graphical code, embedding the key data in theservice or item using steganography, embedding the key data in theservice or item using natural language watermarking or natural languagemorphology, embedding the key data in the service or item using hiddentext or invisible text or binary data embedding, and embedding the keydata in the service or item using visible text or visible binary dataembedding.

A computer system includes:

a smart contract with computer-readable program code executable by aprocessing circuit for:

embedding key data in each term of the smart contract, the key databeing associated with a blockchain identification and usable to conducta transaction a, wherein a record of the transaction becomes visible ina transaction ledger;

monitoring the transaction ledger to determine whether a transactionagainst the blockchain identification has occurred;

applying a contract expert module to interpret contract terms; and

enforcing the smart contract at the machine level if no dispute andotherwise enforcing the smart contract by court, arbitration oradministration

The system of can have the following:

comprising holding a store of value at a bank or escrow to pay forcompletion of contract terms.

comprising verifying completion of contractual terms using a third partycomputer agent.

owners of IoT devices and sensors share generated IoT data in exchangefor real-time micropayments.

producing energy produced by IoT energy harvester generatescryptocurrency value registered on the blockchain.

placing a Bill of Lading on a blockchain and terms of the shippingcontract are executed in code based on real-time data provided from IoTdevices (Smart Agents) accompanying shipping containers.

applying the blockchain in auto supply chains.

providing real-time information from sensor data from various vehicleparts are integrated with blockchain to make real-time decisions andtransactions involving services and payments.

recording environmental conditions during the shipment of one or moreproducts and during a change of ownership, checking collected dataagainst each product's corresponding smart contract in the Ethereumblockchain.

performing contract negotiations among IOT devices.

a first IOT device managing a cost of the device, wherein the IOT devicenegotiates power reduction or power from another IOT device to optimizethe cost.

placing a resupply or maintenance request with device location.

using blockchain-enabled smart contracts to ensure that the appropriateparties are notified of noncompliant events and automatically enforceprivacy regulations; rules embedded via smart contracts dictate whatthey can see and when. Moreover, as data and transactions are shifted orlinked to blockchains, organizations can track who has shared data andwith whom, without revealing the data itself.

a lifecycle of a product by storing manufacturing, diagnostic andmaintenance and end-of-life data on a blockchain.

lending an item with lending terms in the smart contract.

receiving a request for lending an item; generating as contract terms anowner identifier that has the right to use and lend the item, anidentifier of the item, and the lendable number of times of the item; aborrower identifier specified by the owner, and a lending periodmatching the borrower identifier; and unlocking the item for use duringthe lending period according to contract terms.

One skilled in the art will appreciate that, for this and otherprocesses and methods disclosed herein, the functions performed in theprocesses and methods may be implemented in differing order.Furthermore, the outlined steps and operations are only provided asexamples, and some of the steps and operations may be optional, combinedinto fewer steps and operations, or expanded into additional steps andoperations without detracting from the essence of the disclosedembodiments. Although embodiments of the present inventions have beendescribed in detail, it should be understood that the various changes,substitutions, and alterations can be made hereto without departing fromthe spirit and scope of the invention.

What is claimed is:
 1. A device, comprising: a device body; anaccelerometer coupled to the body; a camera to capture an image; awireless transceiver; and a processor coupled to the body and associatedwith a blockchain with a blockchain address for a secured transaction byaccessing data, content, or application stored in a cloud storage;authorizing a first client device; receiving an authorization requestfrom the first client device; generating an authorization key foraccessing a cloud server and storing the key in a blockchain; providingthe authorization key to the first client device; receiving theauthorization key from a remote device as a second client device workingas an agent of the first client device; granting access to the secondclient device based on the authorization key; receiving code and dataassociated with an application or content identified in a blockchain,and running code with the data.
 2. The device of claim 1, wherein theprocessor accessing a digital key in trusted memory to securely sign ablockchain transaction for a contract stored on a decentralized ledger,and wherein the processor to stores events on the blockchain relating toidentity wherein the identity is used for accessing a computer, buildingor equipment.
 3. The device of claim 1, comprising a module to manage achain of custody of a user, where one or more images are taken of theuser and immutably supplemented with location, and an identity of aperson associated with the image is added as a metadata.
 4. The deviceof claim 1, comprising a module to manage a chain of custody forcannabis and a module to manage a chain of custody for a drug withingredients, where one or more images are taken of drug ingredients andwherein an identity of a person associated with drug production is addedas a metadata.
 5. The device of claim 1, comprising a module coupled tothe camera for image tagging of one or more objects.
 6. The device ofclaim 5, wherein the image is stored off or on the blockchain and theimage includes embedded information including a signature of a persontaking the image.
 7. The device of claim 5, wherein the image includesembedded information including a positioning system coordinate and atemperature.
 8. The device of claim 1, comprising a module to processenergy generation or consumption using the blockchain.
 9. The device ofclaim 1, comprising a module to manage a chain of custody for an object,a plant, a drug or a person.
 10. The method of claim 1, comprising amodule to identify a custodian location from one or more of: a seedgrower facility, a plant harvester facility, a processing facility, adistribution facility, a retail facility.
 11. The device of claim 1,comprising a sensor to perform one of: photonic, magnetic, x-ray, radiofrequency, chemical, microcode, florescence, genetic, electronicanalysis, spectroscopy analysis, wherein the analysis is placed on theblockchain.
 12. The device of claim 1, comprising one or moreidentification tags mixed or dispersed within a facility or plant. 13.The device of claim 1, comprising medical dispensing machine to provideblockchain data on location and time of each event associated with amedication.
 14. The device of claim 1, comprising a module to trace foodor drug from production to distribution to consumption using theblockchain.
 15. The device of claim 1, wherein the blockchain comprisesEthereum or Bitcoin, and the wireless transceiver comprises a cellulartransceiver or 802 transceiver.
 16. The device of claim 1, comprising amodule to link blockchain addresses to a store, sign cryptocurrencytransactions and check a store status.
 17. The device of claim 1,comprising a distributed application (dApp).
 18. The device of claim 1,comprising a module to process a smart contract.
 19. The device of claim1, comprising a module to transfer currency in a smart contract.
 20. Thedevice of claim 1, comprising a smart phone with a wallet.